


More Worth the Earning

by wand3rlust



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, Military, pride and prejudice au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:29:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2064660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wand3rlust/pseuds/wand3rlust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Bucky meet at a military ball. Things do not start out well. This is a modern Pride and Prejudice/Military AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Impressions

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes hated military balls. He only came because Steve had insisted and he knew Natasha would be there so he wouldn’t have to bother with trying to socialize with people he’d probably never see again, or at most only see once a year.

“Bucky! She’s the most wonderful person I have ever met in my life.” Steve swooned dramatically eyeing Major Peggy Carter across the room.

He nodded knowing Steve was off on a cloud somewhere. He had to admit she was the most interesting person they’ve met so far this evening. Earlier, he and Steve approached her when the host of this ball, Tony Stark, singled her out as a guest of honor for being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for assisting unarmed civilians and treating the critically wounded in the middle of an attack on a U.S. Embassy last year. She’d even managed to get on Natasha’s good side right away and they both seemed to be having a great time poking fun at Tony Stark’s attempt and an inspiring speech.

“Did you meet her good friend Sam yet?” Steve asked.

Bucky nodded. He had. Earlier that evening Natasha had snuck away with Peggy and Sam had approached him to make small talk.

“Now there’s trouble if I ever saw it.” Sam grinned as Natasha and Peggy walked away arm in arm to go grab drinks.

Bucky had no idea who the man was and wasn’t in the mood for small talk. “Those women have saved a whole lot of lives. I don’t think they’d appreciate being called trouble.”

Sam frowned. “Yeah, Peggy’s one of my best friends, I know that. I was just… you know, nevermind. Let’s try that again, my name is Sam. Sam Wilson.” Sam held his hand out to shake his.

Bucky glanced to Sam’s hand and and reached out to shake it.

“And you are…?” Sam prompted.

“Right, sorry, James Barnes.” Bucky said.

“Wait, you’re…”

Here we go. This is why he hated military balls most of all.

“ _THE_ James Barnes who got the Medal of Honor because you defied your superior officers despite being injured and rescued 19 Afghan Allies in a firefight?”

Bucky glanced to his feet. “I was just doing what I swore to do,” he said. “But if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not talk about that.”

“Sure, sorry, it’s just an honor to meet you.”

If anyone really knew how he felt about that day, about the military in general, they’d think twice about saying it was an honor to meet him. He needed to get away, get out of here. “Thank you Sam, but with all due respect I don’t need any praise.”

“I wasn’t…”

“Enjoy the rest of your night, please excuse me.” Bucky said quickly as he spotted Natasha across the room.

“And?” Steve said as he waved his hand in front of Bucky’s face breaking his memory of his encounter with Sam. He glanced behind Steve’s shoulder towards Sam who was already glaring in his direction mumbling something to his friend Riley standing next to him. He’d just as soon forget the whole thing ever happened cursing himself for letting Natasha sneak away leaving him vulnerable.

“It was brief. Not much to tell.” Bucky said.

Steve beamed, “Peggy says he and their friend Riley were a part the rescue operation she was awarded for.”

He was? Bucky risked a quick glance back over Steve’s shoulder but Sam and Riley were nowhere to be seen.

“I’m sure they were very courageous,” said Bucky, “But I don’t see the point in trying to get to know everyone here Steve. The chances of us seeing them again are very unlikely.”

“Speak for yourself,” Steve winked, “I’ve got a date.”

“Well look at you, what do you even need me for now?”

“Shut up, Jerk.”

“Punk.” Bucky grinned.

 

\----

Sam was fuming. What an egotistical, stuck up, hateful, asshole. Who the hell says _With all due respect I don't need any praise_ to someone trying to pay a simple compliment for doing something awesome? And he acted like he couldn't get away fast enough. Who the hell gets away with an attitude like that?

"Whoa dude, if looks could kill..." Riley said following his glare across the room to where Bucky and Steve stood talking.

"You'll never guess who that is." Sam said scrunching his nose as his annoyance grew stronger.

"Who?" Riley asked.

"James Barnes."

"Seriously?" Riley's eyes went wide glancing back to observe the man again. "Wow, he's kinda hot."

"Maybe, if he weren't such an asshole. Couldn't even be bothered to spare a full sentence when I told him it was an honor to meet him. Acted like I insulted him or something." Sam ranted.

"Maybe he's having a bad night." Riley offered shrugging his shoulders.

"No, you didn't see it. Dude just walked away like he couldn't be bothered to even talk. Who does that?"

"Poor you, not being the object of everyone's attention." Riley teased poking his shoulder.

Sam laughed at that. "You're an asshole. You know that's not what I mean."

Riley rolled his eyes, "Whatever man, let's go grab a drink and make bets on who will embarrass themselves first."

"You really are an evil asshole," Sam laughs, "which is why you are my very best friend."

As they walked towards the bar Sam couldn't help but overhear Barnes' complaining to his friend about not bothering to get to know anyone here. Why even bother showing up if he hated the whole thing so much. Attendance wasn't required. Why make everyone else miserable?

 

\---

Bucky was starting to get antsy. Steve was being his outgoing self making up for his own lack of participation but he wondered if he could quietly excuse himself early to go up to his suite. Unfortunately, a voice interrupted his thoughts before he could plan his escape.

"I read they gave you an experimental metal arm developed by actual rocket scientists and NASA engineers." A shorter man with a very bald, very round head pushed his ridiculous glasses up his nose. He stood before him ogling his left hand before holding his own hand out. "Oh, forgive me, I'm Specialist Jasper Sitwell, Sir, it's an honor to meet you."

"Well Specialist, it's--"

"I currently work closely with Colonel Fury, you know him well I hear?" But the man did not spare a breath to be answered, "and he has given me the duty to re-catagorize, digitally encrypt and archive older case files. Not that I've seen any of your case files or would talk about them here, of course. I just read in the Times about the experimental engineering behind the arm you were given. A true technological breakthrough!"

Bucky's pulse was racing, who let this man in? More importantly, how did he get within ten feet of Fury and still be in one piece? "Specialist Sitwell," he said finally able to take no more, trying his best not to snap at him, "I am sure you know Colonel Fury well, but I do not know you, and you are out of line." He did not wait for any further apology, turned on his heel and bee-lined towards Steve. Tonight was testing his patience in the worst possible ways.

As he approached Steve, Peggy's outburst of laughter pulled their attention across the room. She and Natasha were doing their best to hold in more laughter as they made their way back towards them.

"I can't believe he tried that line, on the guest of honor no less!" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't the worst I've ever heard. I think he just wanted to dance, poor guy." Peggy gave a pitying look.

"What, don't you like music?" Bucky asked nodding to the dance floor.

"I do, actually." Peggy said looking directly at Steve.

"So what are you waiting for?" Bucky asked.

"The right partner." she raised her eyebrows with a knowing smile towards Steve.

Natasha stepped up to Bucky's side resting her hand on his shoulder. "I need a drink. And you look like you need to unwind."

"Subtle," Bucky said.

Natasha shrugged shoving his shoulder pushing him in the direction of the open bar. They both ordered a beer and went to stand along a wall a little out of the way of traffic but with a good view of the room. Peggy was doing more of the leading while she and Steve danced, but he looked like he would be just as happy sparring with her or following her around a grocery store.

"She's a keeper." Natasha said after a few minutes of easy silence.

Bucky quirked an eyebrow at her. Natasha never got attached to people this fast.

"Ok, I admit," she said, "she introduced me to the one and only Pepper Potts. What can I say? I am easily won over."

Bucky shook his head, "Well, you're not alone it seems. Steve adores her already. You know how he gets."

"Yeah," Natasha said with and exaggerated sigh, "It's disgusting."

Bucky laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "It really is."

"Speaking of... a little birdie told me her friend Sam Wilson is disgustingly adorable as well. Very single and very into a few good men," she waggeled her eyebrows and winked suggestively.

"Nat," he groaned, "just once it would be just awesome if you would stop trying to hook me up with the first single guy you hear about at a parties. I'm not desperate, I can get my own dates just fine."

Only about ten feet away Sam was leaning against a column waiting for Riley to get back from the bathroom. He hadn't even noticed Barnes was there before but as soon as he heard his name mentioned he peered his head around the column to see what lovely person was singing his praises only to find she was talking to Barnes of all people. He would've let it go and turned back around to ignore him, but the absolute disgust Barnes expressed at even possibly being introduced to him set him on edge, like he'd planned to be introduced in the first place or was desperate himself. The nerve!

"Jesus I'm gone for 5 minutes and you look like you're about to knock someone out again. Was Sitwell tormenting you this time?" Riley asked taking his beer from Sam's grasp.

Sam huffed a laugh, "No, thank god. But not much better. Come on, I need some air," he said walking to the back door that lead to the gardens.

 _I'm not desperate, I can get my own dates._ He mocked Barnes tone as he relayed the story to Riley.

Riley just laughed and told him to be glad he didn't waste his energy on flirting with a horrible person and that they'd be out of here tomorrow anyway.

Sam couldn't help but stew though. He'd never had a problem making friends or people at least liking him. He didn't know what he'd done to personally offend Barnes and it agitated him to think someone didn't like him for no good reason.

"Don't let it bug you man, some people are just determined to be bitter about the world and everyone in it. His loss."

"Damn right," Sam said taking pull from his beer.

"Looks like the party's dying down." Riley said glancing back inside.

"Yeah, I think I'll go say my goodbyes and head upstairs. You coming?" he asked.

"Yeah in a bit," Riley answered, "but I promised Sitwell he could interview me for The Post."

"Good luck with that," Sam said scrunching his nose with a grimace.

"He's not so bad once you learn how to handle him." Riley said.

Sam's grimace grew more exaggerated and Riley laughed clapping his shoulder as they made their way back inside.

Sam said his goodbyes to the appropriate people but decided not to bother Peggy who looked like she was in a world all her own dancing the night away. He was glad she was having a great time and that Captain Steve Rogers seemed every bit as wonderful as his reputation was said to be. Shame about his friend Barnes being a miserable bastard.

So of course as twisted fate would have it, as soon as the elevator doors started to shut a voice shouted, "hold the door!" and a hand stuffed into the gap causing the sensors to fling them open again. It was none other than Barnes. He stood there hesitating like a deer in headlights for a moment before Sam couldn't take it anymore.

"On or off? Some of us need sleep." he spat.

Barnes nodded stepping onto the elevator leaning in front of him to select his floor. Top floor of course. The bastard smelled really good too. Of course he did. The ride was that awkward kind of silence that makes you want to scream and it didn't help that out of the corner of his eye he was pretty sure he saw Barnes keep looking at him.

Sam clenched his jaw and summoned all his strength not to ask him what the hell his problem was, so he closed his eyes and amused himself with a thought about how Riley must be miserably suffering through one of Sitwell's long-winded soliloquies right this minute. The elevator dinged signaling his floor and he stepped off in a hurry avoiding even looking at Barnes as he exited. Good freaking riddance.

 


	2. Wounded Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very loose and modern interpretation of Pride and Prejudice, some events have and will be shuffled around but I hope to keep the heart of the story the same. Also yes, I'm giving Sam some flaws here and future chapters will better highlight Bucky's flaws too. Hope you have some patience with me on that.

Sam woke with a thud on the wall. It was still very early but not so early that he would try to get back to sleep at this point. Not that he could with the racket Riley was making in the room next door. He sighed scrubbing his face, he wasn't sure how Riley had managed to pick someone up before he left the party but he wasn't about to lay around listening to them go at it. He thought about slapping the wall letting them know he was awake, but he knew Riley didn't actually care and would probably be even louder just to irritate him.

Sleep had helped his mood a lot but part of him was still feeling prickly about his encounters with Barnes last night so he stretched wide before hauling himself out of bed. He decided a quick run around the gardens should help so he threw on a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt to fight of the early morning chill.

He'd only gotten warmed up with a few laps around  the fountains when he heard a voice call out, "On your left!"

Before he could even glance to his left Steve Rogers breezed past him like he'd only been speed walking. Sam's drive for competition kicked in and so he sped up his pace to catch up, but Steve had disappeared around the tall sculptured bushes before  Sam could get on pace. Only a few minutes later Steve's voice called out behind him again, "On your left!"

"Come on!" Sam complained out loud as Steve passed by him once again. He was pretty sure the man was chuckling while he did it too, but not in a mean spirited way.

Sam tried to speed up again but it was useless, only a few minutes later he was out of breath and exhausted and so he stopped to stretch, cool down, and then sat on a bench drinking his bottle of water he'd brought with him. Running had always been more of a leisurely way to keep in shape, but he'd never been particularly fast usually finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack. He watched as Steve took a few more laps nodding and smiling kindly each time he passed by. He was about to get up to go inside when Steve strolled around the fountain toward him wiping the sweat from his forehead with a swipe of his forearm. The man was dressed like some pro athlete in training gear and Sam almost laughed at the thought.

"It's Sam right?" Steve asked crossing over the perfectly manicured lawn to where Sam was standing.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Sam Wilson. You're Captain Steve Rogers, right?"

"Yeah," he smiled widely holding his hand out, "honor to meet you, Sam."

"Same here," Sam said shaking his hand firmly. Now this, THIS is how you respond to a simple introduction Sam thought bitterly but let the feeling pass not wanting to let it bother him anymore.

"Peggy told me so much about you and Riley last night, sorry we weren't properly introduced." Steve said.

"It’s alright, I spent half the evening hiding out away from the main room anyway. Hope it was all good stuff, and if not I'll just say in my defense Riley can be a bad influence."

Steve laughed and smirked, "A little bad influence isn't always so bad. Gotta shake it up a little sometimes. Makes for some good times."

Sam was sincerely surprised to hear him say that, he hadn't expected Steve of all people to be a mischievous kind of person. "Oh yeah? So not exactly a poster boy then?"

Steve shrugged with a smile, "All work no play, blah blah and all that."

Sam is starting to understand now what exactly Peggy had been drawn to last night. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little surprised to see her pursue him given his reputation as a golden boy, who was most definitely not her usual type at all.

"So long as no one gets hurt, right?" Sam adds with a questioning look.

"Oh yeah definitely." Steve's face turned serious at that, "I've got no intention of playing around with Peggy, if that's what you you're getting at."

"Just wanted to be clear." Sam said.

"Crystal," said Steve nodding, "I like a person who looks after their friends."

Sam nodded approving, there was a lot more to Steve than most people gave him credit for. Much more than the innocent, people pleaser picture they painted of him in the media.

"Well Sam, I need to head back upstairs," he motioned back to the hotel behind them, "think I'm going to take the stairs, but let's get you the elevator first so I don't have to put my medical skills to use first thing in the morning."

"Oh?" Sam laughed, "So that's how it is?"

Steve pulled a cocky face so much like Riley Sam almost laughed.

"That's how it is." Steve answered.

Several stories above, unknown to them both Bucky watched from his balcony as they made their way inside.

"Penny for your thoughts." Natasha said.

"Huh?" Bucky asked realizing she'd come into the room. "How'd you get in here?"

"I'm very clever." She smirked.

He rolled his eyes as he turned to come back in shutting the sliding door behind him. "You can be very creepy you know."

"Pot," she pointed to him, "meet kettle," she said pointing back to herself. "At least I'm not creeping on dudes in the garden," she challenged.

"I wasn't creeping. I was just getting some air. I can't help if Steve was down there flirting with his new girlfriend's 'best friend.'" he said with air quotes.

"mmmm hmmmm," she hummed.

"Shut up." he said.

She stuck her tongue out at him and then plopped down on his unmade bed grabbing the room service menu from the bedside table. "Let's order some breakfast before we leave. We've got two hours in the car with Steve coming up. Better fuel up for it."

"Best idea you've had all weekend."

"Shut up you grump and tell me what you want," she said patting the bed.

\---

As Sam stepped off the elevator he was in a much better mood from earlier. When he got to his door he pulled the key card out of his sock and just as he was about to insert the key in his door, Riley's door next to his opened and the very last person he ever expected walked out of the room. Jasper Sitwell.

What the...

The door closed with a thud and Jasper smiled sheepishly at him before heading the opposite direction towards the elevators.

"Sitwell? Really?" Sam asked as he pulled his chair out when he met Riley for breakfast a short while later.

Riley shrugged noncommittally. "What?"

Sam huffed as he grabbed a piece of toast buttering it. "Kiss ass, throws people under the bus to advance his career, never shuts up Sitwell?"

"Dude, you make him sound evil. He’s not that bad. You act like him ratting Rumlow out was a bad thing.”

“It’s not just… look ok, Rumlow had it coming for what he did,” Sam agreed, “but, Sitwell is a creep, and you deserve better.” Sam said before stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth.

“Sam, it’s not like I’m looking for marriage or some huge commitment. I’m not a romantic person, you know that more than anyone. He gets that, so don’t judge me just because you don’t think he’s right for me or whatever idea you have in your head about what I deserve.”

Ouch, that stung. Sam did know that all too well. They’d tried dating back in high school but they both decided they wanted different things and had broke it off less than a year later. It was mutual but it took a long time for them to get back to their comfortable friendship. This wasn’t about that though, but he didn’t want to fight. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I know you’re not looking for the picket fence and all that, I just hope you’re careful.”

“I’m an adult, Sam. I appreciate you watching my back, but if I need your help or opinion on this I’ll ask.” Riley said with a scowl scooping a pile of eggs into his mouth.

So much for the good mood. Thankfully Peggy joined them shortly after breaking the uncomfortable silence between them. Her own good mood was infectious and Sam told her about running into Steve this morning and teased her about staying up too late.

“Steve said you and Bucky, sorry, I mean James got to talk.”

Next to her Riley was shaking his head vigorously side to side to avoid the topic, but it was too late.

Sam scoffed. “If you can even call that talking. It was like pulling teeth. First he got pissed because I said you and Natasha were ‘trouble’ and then he got all defensive because I said it was nice to meet him. Then later he acted like it was some kind of insult that their red headed friend thought we should be introduced. I’ve never met anyone so miserable in my entire life.”

Peggy looked a little shock at this rant but Riley sighed shaking his head frowning at Peggy as they shared a knowing look.

“Well,” she said, “he was nothing but nice to me, maybe a little quiet or stand-offish? Nothing terrible though. Surely he can’t be that bad if Steve’s his best friend,” She offered.

“Well, he’d be a fool not to at least pretend to like you.” Sam winked.

Peggy rolled her eyes, “He was genuinely nice to me, so don’t start.”

“I’m not starting anything.” Sam raised his hands in defense. He was done having this conversation and decided it didn't matter anymore. With luck he'd never have to see the man ever again. “Anyway,” he said scooting his chair back to stand, “I’ve got to go finish packing. Call me when you’re ready to head out?”

They nodded and he made his way back upstairs. He was sure the universe was testing him though because as he passed the front desk to get to the elevators Barnes was there and he couldn’t help overhear something about needing a flat iron. He rounded around to the elevators pressing the up button willing the elevator to arrive faster, unfortunately it wasn’t fast enough and Sam was forced to wait for it alongside Barnes.

“Hi.” Barnes said.

Sam nodded but didn’t speak only eying the flat iron in his hands.

“It’s for my friend,” he explained after moment.

Sam hummed, he didn’t care at all, but he couldn’t help but notice the man’s own unkempt scraggly hair could probably use a good pass with the iron as well. Hurry up elevator. It dinged and a handful of people poured out. Just he and Barnes on the elevator up again of course.

“It’s Sam right?” Barnes asked pressing the top floor button the same as he had last night.

Why even bother with this now Sam’s mind protested. “Yeah,” he answered shortly instead.

“I’m sorry last night I was so short, I didn’t realize who--”

“And if you had known who I was, would you have pretended to be nicer to me? Spare the false flattery.” Sam said. He had no more patience to spare this morning.

“It’s not-- I don’t pretend anything,” he said defensively now, “I didn’t know who you were and questions from strangers about … about what happened makes me uncomfortable.” Barnes crossed his arms across his chest clearly upset now.

And Sam suddenly felt embarrassed for how he’d reacted. He knew the last thing most people want to talk about is one of the worst days of their life, even if everyone called you a hero for it. But it wasn’t just that, if he hadn’t been so against even being introduced to him in the first place it might not have been so bad, but for whatever reason Sam resented that the man hadn’t even given him a chance at all.

The floor signal chimed and the doors opened, “Well Barnes next time you’re at a party just remember strangers can be introduced by friends, even if you’re not desperate,” Sam retorted as he stepped off. It felt good. Really good. And so he didn’t bother to look back as the doors shut behind him completely missing Barnes’ horrified realization that he’d overheard his conversation with Natasha. 


	3. Follies

As the words poured out of Sam's mouth Bucky found himself embarrassed and angry. He was half tempted to jump out of the elevator. Explain to him that that conversation had absolutely nothing to do with Sam and everything to do with Nat's meddling in his life yet again and that it was egotistical for Sam to even assume it was about him. But what did it matter? It's not like Sam would have listened to him, he'd already made up his mind about him and why bother with someone who was just going to judge him anyway.

To hell with military balls and military men and anything involving parties ever again.

\---

It had been nearly an hour of Steve chatting with Natasha about Peggy in the car before he had noticed Bucky had plugged in his headphones, ignoring them both. He saw Steve gesture to the back seat at him and almost pulled out one earphones to see what he was saying, but decided he didn't want to know. He saw Natasha shrug in the seat in front of him and wave her hand noncommittally.

Steve frowned glancing at him again in the rearview mirror but didn't actually say anything to him, so he turned and rested his head against the window. He wasn't in the mood for Steve's good mood at the moment and he didn't want to ruin Steve's good mood with his own bad one.

After Steve dropped Natasha off at her apartment, he drove the two of them back to base. They were lucky enough to have a slightly nicer condo style apartment due to Steve's higher rank. It’s no castle, but it was home.

"Alright spill," said Steve as he grabbed their bags out of the trunk.

"Spill what?" Bucky asked taking his bag from his hand feeling mildly annoyed before turning towards their place.

"You haven't said two words all morning,” Steve said jogging to catch up to Bucky’s stride, “something is bothering you.

"I'm fine," Bucky said pulling the keys out of his pocket as they reached the door. “I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.” It was a partial truth at least. He'd slept well most the night until a nightmare woke him up about an hour before sunrise. Then the rest of the morning happened and now he felt on edge.

“Alright,” Steve said setting his bag inside the front door. He looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself. “Well, we don’t have to be in until Monday so try to get some rest. I’ve got some errands to run do you need anything while I’m out?”

Bucky shook his head. “No, I’m good, thanks. Just gonna rest a while,” he said and slipped into his room closing the door behind him.

Outside he heard Steve sigh. He felt bad because he knew Steve worried about him but he knew himself well enough to know it was for the best. The last thing he wanted to do was take his frustration out on Steve and so he kicked his shoes and jeans off and crawled in between the sheets promptly passing out.

Later, he found himself being shaken awake. Steve was saying his name quiet not to startle him. He blinked his eyes open the sun was pouring into his window, not too bright though since it was low in the sky now, early evening by his best guess.

"Buck," Steve said again touching his shoulder lightly.

Bucky rolled onto his back and groaned stretching all the way from his toes to the tips of his fingers, the fingers in his robotic hand whirring loudly in his ear. "I'm awake," he said letting his eyes fall shut again.

"I grabbed tacos from that little family owned place you like," Steve said. "Thought you might want to eat them before they get soggy."

Bucky hummed happily and smiled. He felt a lot better now and could definitely use some food since he'd missed lunch entirely. "You didn't have to do that," he said.

"Well I didn't feel like cooking and it sounded good. Mrs. Castillo says hello by the way, and told me to tell you, and I quote, 'come by next Saturday around 6:00 in that beautiful dress uniform' and then she winked at me."

He could hear the grin in Steve's voice. Bucky sat up throwing the sheet back and huffed a laugh. "What, and you're not invited?" he teased grabbing a pair of sweats out of the dresser drawer and pulling them on.

Mrs. Castillo had been trying to introduce him to her twins Carlos and Luisa since Christmas. They both were home from school for summer break, a little over two months, and she insisted he would get along with them both. From her stories, he knew Carlos was studying engineering in California and Luisa was studying to become a medical doctor in Atlanta and that they were both beautiful and extremely intelligent. He was pretty sure Mrs. Castillo had it in her head that he'd fall for one of them. And truth be told, he liked her so well that he'd thought very seriously about taking her up on the offer to meet them. He knew that wasn't fair to Luisa or Carlos. This wasn't the 1800's  after all and people weren't usually very receptive to meeting people their parents had decided were perfect for them. Besides, he was just a simple soldier no telling how long he'd be here in the end and they were both going back to school very soon, he didn't want to make things awkward for anyone.

They loaded up their plates and sat on the couch with TV trays as Steve flipped on the local news and inhaled his food at record pace. There was a cute story about an adorable toddler who'd become best friends with a WWII vet by driving his toy John Deer tractor with the older man's real one every day, but they were soon going to be parted.

The toddler's parents were moving to a neighborhood with a better school district and the older man was selling his house to move to a retirement community since his wife passed away. If Steve shed a tear, he pretended not to notice. It was a heartwarming but sad story after all. He wondered what kind of stories the man had about his life, the military and getting out to have a family. He wondered what kind of advice he'd have for someone like him or Steve.

"You ever think about getting out?" Bucky asked.

Steve shrugged. "Maybe?" He sounded unsure. "I like what we do though," he continued, "I like the routine, I like to know what we're fighting for, I like that we get to do the right thing and fight for good in the world. It's not perfect by any means, but I hope we can make it better."

Bucky nodded. Steve had always been very idealistic and optimistic about the military, but Bucky, now more than ever, wasn't sure his heart was in it. He'd never told Steve everything that had gone down while he was in Afghanistan, but the truth was he didn't trust his own memory of everything in the first place.

There was so much he didn't remember and so much he'd been accused of after he got back. Steve had sided with him of course, and in the end so did the military rewarding him for his disobedience, but his trust of any superiors had been more than a little shaken after that. They'd offered to give him an honorable discharge, but the truth was Bucky didn't know who he was without Steve or the military and so they'd agreed to allow him to stay on as long as he could still pass the physical requirements. It had taken nearly a year of rehabilitation, but he'd gotten there and he'd requested reassignment to Fort Benning where Steve was. He'd been here nearly two years now

Steve's phone chimed and he grinned wide as he glanced at the screen. Must be Peggy.

"Sorry man, got a date," Steve said waving his phone around.

"Tonight?" Bucky asked. "I thought she was headed back to Moody Air Force Base?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah she did. Skype date," he explained. "I'll be back on the laptop if you need anything."

Bucky grimaced playfully, "Just use some sanitizer to clean that thing when you're done."

"Shut up Buck," Steve said tossing the remote at him, "it's not that kind of date you pervert."

Bucky laughed and shrugged as he flipped the TV to the FOOD Network just in time to catch the very start of a marathon of re-runs of _Chopped All Stars_ , one of his very favorite guilty pleasure shows. It always made him wish he cooked more, but there never seemed to be any time to learn.

Two or three episodes later Steve returned to the living room flopping dramatically down on the couch sighing happily. "God Bucky, she's perfect. The actual definition of perfection."

Bucky rolled his eyes and smiled. "Careful Steve, I'm pretty sure she'd rather you not put her on a pedestal," he warned.

"No, you're right," Steve agreed, "that's part of why she's so great. She's worked so hard to get where she is and to get the same respect men half her rank have gotten. I know she's had to put up with a great deal to prove herself over the years. She's brilliant at tactical planning, better even than maybe Colonel Fury, though don't tell him I told you that," he said pointing insistently at Bucky who shakes his head. "And she's funny too Buck. Sam says she's very deadpan like you most the time, but when they're together they play off each other so well. I wish you'd gotten the chance to really talk with him. I think you'd like him a lot" said Steve.

Bucky huffed, "Oh, I tried and that's very doubtful."

"You did? When? Why?"

"Let's just say he got the wrong idea about something I said to Natasha and decided I was the worst person in the world for not being up to being set up that night."

"Well, what did you say?" Steve asked.

"Steve, that's not the point." Bucky protested.

Steve raised his eyebrows expecting an explanation anyway.

"I don't remember exactly," he started, "Natasha was trying to do her matchmaker thing and I wasn't in the mood and so I think I told her I wasn't desperate and could get my own dates. Sam somehow took this to mean I hated him or something and he told me as much later." Bucky could feel himself getting exasperated again just trying to explain what had happened.

"Well you could've been a little more tactful," Steve said.

"I didn't know he was listening!" Bucky huffed in frustration. "Besides, isn't it rude to eavesdrop in the first place? Why should I care if his ego was bruised when he couldn't bother to consider my side of things in the first place?"

"Maybe it was all just a simple misunderstanding," Steve offered, "I'm sure if you got to know him you'd like him a lot."

"Don't hold your breath, Steve. You're always so willing to assume people are good and nice, but I assure you, the guy likes me even less than I like him at this point, he made that very clear."

Steve sighed deflated, "I'm sure you just got off on the wrong foot, he is really very nice, maybe I could talk to him--"

"Steve please, don't." Bucky had had enough of the conversation at this point. He loved Steve to death but he refused to believe anyone he believed to be good could also be hateful or that anyone would dislike Bucky either. Bucky knew both were true and that he could be both himself some days, and so he didn't feel like getting into it. "Do what you like dating Peggy or whatever it is you guys are doing, but don't drag me into this. I don't need to be friends with your girlfriend's best friend for you two to date," he said curt and final.

"I don't understand why you think the worst of people before you even know them anymore, you used to be so much more open." Steve huffed.

"I have good reasons and you know it. It's not like people were all that fair to you when we were growing up," Bucky pointed out, "and besides I've seen the manipulation of supposed _good men_ and I'd rather not live through that again."

He knew it wasn't fair throwing that one in Steve's face, but it had just come out of his mouth before he could stop it. Steve hadn't been there. Steve had been in Iraq while he was in Afghanistan and he reminded himself yet again that he'd never told Steve all the details of what had happened there.

Bucky sighed. "I don't want to fight, Steve," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, you didn't deserve that."

Steve shook his head. "No, you were right, you have nothing to apologize for, it's me who should apologize. It's not fair of me to bring that up after everything you've been through, I'm sorry."

Bucky looked him in the eyes and could read Steve's face like a book. He looked worried that he'd crossed a line, but Bucky couldn't stay mad at Steve even if he tried. He knew for a fact he wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Steve and his endless optimism. He quirked the corners of his mouth up in a half smile and slid next to Steve on the couch taking him into a headlock. "Punk."

Steve laughed and a weight was lifted off them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! This one was a bit exposition heavy but hopefully it helps set everyone up for what's coming soon especially if you're not familiar with P&P. If you are familiar I apologize since this deviates some from the plot to set some stuff up for Bucky, Steve, well everyone really. Chapter 4 should be up this weekend sometime! Things will lighten up some in the next one. Hope you're all enjoying it!


	4. Fine Eyes

Summer in Georgia was nothing short of brutal. As they neared the end of it, 100 degree temperatures stretched on for days at a time with the humidity making everything that much worse. In recent years, 2 week summer block leaves had been issued for entire squadrons at a time to give everyone a break from the never-ending heat. Peggy, Sam and Riley were in the last unit to have leave.

The first week of September was wrapping up and Sam was looking forward to heading up to Atlanta to catch the the first home Falcons game of the season with Peggy, Riley and Steve. Then, for the rest of his leave he'd arranged to catch a flight to Savannah for a week of solitary rest and relaxation at a private beach house. The nice thing about being the last unit with block leave was it was after Labor Day and all the big crowds would be gone.

He was straightening up some files and paperwork when Peggy came into to check in with Phillips.

"Anything else before the end of the day Colonel Phillips?" Peggy asked.

"Nothing else Major Carter. As of midnight, you and your unit are officially on leave for the next two weeks, enjoy your time off. Dismissed."

"Thank you sir," she saluted and then nodded at Sam before she left.

Sam finished putting the folders away and left only a few short minutes after her. He found her around the corner talking on her phone, with Steve most likely. He waved at her and she waved back then held her finger up with a nod for him to wait. They often carpooled back and forth to their apartment building together. Peggy lived in the same building just down the hall from the apartment that he and Riley shared and so it only made sense.

Peggy walked towards him, phone still pressed to her ear. "When are you heading out?" She tucked a piece of her brown hair behind her other ear mindlessly and then laughed at something Steve said on the other end. "I know what you mean," she said eyeing Sam with a pointed look. "Drive safe and ask Natasha to please come even if she doesn't like football. I would love to see her again." Another pause and then her face glowed with a soft smile. "I will. … Can't wait to see you. … Bye."

Sam couldn't help but smile. He'd never seen Peggy so at ease. "You should see your face," he said with a laugh.

Peggy covered it with her hand, "I know! God. How did I become this person?" she asked with the sound muffled through her fingers.

He laughed again touching her wrist so she'd pull her hand away from her face. "You've always been this person Peg. No shame in being happy," he said.  

She rolled her eyes and smiled at him as they started walking towards the parking lot. The place looked deserted, it was almost creepy and he half expected zombies to jump out at any moment.

"You know, I can't wait for the day I get to make fun of your ridiculous faces too." Peggy teased.

"What are you talking about? I'm adorable,” he laughed. “I don't make ridiculous faces ever."

"Just you wait, it's gonna happen and I'm going to have my camera ready."

"Nothing but Blue Steel here baby," he said pulling a face and motioning dramatically at her. "Besides, I live vicariously through your ridiculous faces, that's enough for me."

She looked at him with a hint of sadness but he pretended not to see, fishing the keys to his SUV out of the laptop bag he carried. By the time they got to the parking lot he was already starting to sweat. "This heat is what's ridiculous," he said. "We've been here, what? Three years? And I'm still not used to this. I can't wait to get to the beach."

"Oh!" she said excitedly as she hopped into the passenger seat,"maybe you'll meet someone at the beach and your life will turn into the next Nicholas Sparks novel!"

"Yeah, cause that always works out so well for those characters." He laughed and then started with his best imitation Amanda Seyfried voice, "Dear John..."

Peggy snorted at that. "Ok bad example. At least a good trashy romance novel then. Maybe some stressed out detective on vacation will literally run past you as the sun sets, and they can't take your eyes off you, and you lock eyes with them and then you spend the entire next three days in bed."

"That sounds like too much work for a vacation. I think I'll just stick to reading the trashy romance novels on the beach thanks."

She giggled, more to herself than anything. "Suit yourself," she said.

There was a stretch of silence while he continued to drive and Sam unexpectedly recalled what Riley had said to him at the ball a few weeks ago, about how different they were. Sometimes he thought maybe he and Riley weren't actually so different in the end. Sam definitely enjoyed being around people, he enjoyed the feeling of falling for someone new, but he was also convinced he would be completely happy if it were just the three of them living together instead of struggling with finding true love, whatever that really was. If he knew they'd always be there together, he could be happy with that.

That was the problem though, nothing was ever guaranteed, especially in their line of work and the thought of losing Riley or Peggy from his life, whether it was someone or something weighed on him more than he'd ever probably admit aloud. Maybe that's what Riley had always meant though. Sam got very attached to those he was closest to and maybe for Riley he needed the space where Sam didn’t. He didn't want to think about losing either of them in any way right now though so he distracted himself with their plans for tomorrow.

"So, we're heading out tomorrow no later than nine?" he aske.

"That's the plan, the earlier the better, you know how long the line gets for sign out on post," said Peggy.

Luckily, everything went smoothly the next morning and even Riley was up, showered, packed and ready to go within record time. They loaded up the SUV, headed back to base to sign off for leave and then hit the highway. They got to the hotel before official check-in time but luckily their room was empty and clean, so they let them check in early. They'd decided to share a loft style room since they were only going to be there for one night and the game was early tomorrow morning.

"Sam?" Peggy called out as she was hanging a couple outfits in the closet.

He was washing his face and about to brush his teeth to get the lingering taste of doritos out of his mouth. "Yeah," he answered.

"Don't be mad," she started and he heard Riley snort at her.

"Don't be mad at what?" he asked poking his head around the door frame.

Peggy glanced nervously at Riley who had his hands draped over his stomach as he laid on the huge bed. He was twirling his thumbs and smirking like he was about to enjoy a show.

Sam's stomach dropped. No. He should've known. He looked between them and knew exactly what she was going to say. He eyed her expectantly, if he was going to have to suffer through this weekend she had to at least say it.

"James is coming up with Steve," she said rapid-fire as she could. "Natasha too though!" she added quickly.

Riley for his part just laughed silently as he laid there watching them both.

Sam sighed. "You could've warned me."

"I'm warning you... now?" Peggy said with an innocent tone. "Honestly, Sam, he's not so bad if you'd just..."

"It's fine," he said with a wave, "I'm an adult. I can be civil." And he could. He was determined to not let anyone or anything spoil his weekend.

He heard Riley mumble something though he didn't catch what it was because Peggy was too busy hugging him. "I promise, we'll still have fun, we're going to a tapas place tonight when they get in, so it should be pretty relaxed."

Steve arrived about an hour later and he stopped by their room to see Peggy. He told them all about how Natasha sped in her Corvette the entire way. Apparently, she got pulled over not once, but twice. She got a warning the first time and only managed to get out of the second one by using her position at the CIA to throw some of her weight around. Steve seemed to be a little displeased at that but Sam decided it was awesome.

\---

The restaurant they were going to was within walking distance and so Sam and Riley went over early to grab a drink while Steve and everyone else got ready.

They didn't have to wait too long, Natasha and James walked in the door first with Peggy and Steve following close behind. Natasha’s bright red hair stood out against the plain black t-shirt and dark sleek jeans she wore. She drew eyes from no less than a dozen people already seated at tables and the bar, but either she didn’t notice or didn’t care. She had her arm linked into James’ arm and was laughing at something he’d said to her. His trademark frown was firmly in place and Sam found it hard to imagine the solemn man ever being funny.

As if hearing his thoughts James’ steely blue eyes locked on his for a few seconds longer than was comfortable, but thankfully Riley’s voice pulled his attention away.

“I got us a large booth so we didn’t have to wait on enough tables to be ready,” Riley said to the four of them motioning toward the back of the room where the booth was open.

Sam was thankful when Natasha slid in next to him and Riley so that James would sit on the opposite side, across from them, next to Steve and Peggy.

"Hey soldiers," she said eyeing them both with an amused look that was not quite a smirk.

He knew she was teasing and knew that she knew the difference but Sam corrected her anyway. "Airmen.”

Natasha made face like she was impressed and he laughed.

"So Sam," she said, "I've heard a lot about you and Riley here."

"All good, I hope."

She did smirk at that, and hmmed shrugging her shoulders. “Depends on your definition of good.”

Next to him Riley  huffed a laugh, leaned over to look at her and said. “Oh, I like you.”

Across the table James sat looking much more ease than Sam had seen him before. His right elbow rested on the table and his chin was propped in his hand, he was listening intently to a story Peggy was telling about growing up in London and he wondered absently if maybe James had ever been. It hadn’t escaped Sam’s notice either that he always kept his left hand tucked under the table, close to his side or behind his back. Or, that despite the scorching temperatures, he was wearing a long sleeved shirt, in a nice shade of hunter green, that hung loosely over his white t-shirt.

A laugh from Riley pulled him from his thoughts and Sam smiled like he’d heard what Riley was laughing about.

They ordered drinks and their food shortly after and before long a second round of plates arrived. Then Sam made a fatal mistake and asked Natasha about her car which she gushed about for several minutes, which led to a debate between her and Riley about foreign and domestic cars that Sam was literally stuck in the middle of.

When he looked across the table to Peggy for help she was too busy lost in whatever conversation she and Steve were having. James had his eyes down and was picking at the food on his plate but Sam could swear the man was actually smirking which was confirmed when he he finally looked up and his eyes bounced between Natasha and Riley with an amused look on his face.

Thankfully, the debate didn’t go on too long because waitress interrupted everything by bringing the check to the table. Steve offered to pay for everyone and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so everyone else agreed to pitch in on the tip and Steve got up to pay the bill at the front register.

They all tossed their money for the tip on the table and Natasha dragged Peggy to the bathroom as everyone got up, she threatened anyone who dared to make a joke about women going to the bathroom together. “You’d bring someone with you if you had to wait in line half the time too,” she said.

As Steve paid, Sam, James and Riley waited out front. Riley’s phone rang so he excused himself a little ways down the sidewalk leaving just James and Sam standing there alone. James’ face was a little flushed from all the wine he’d had to drink and he was leaning his head back against cool the bricks on the wall with his eyes closed.

And this awkward silence was the worst of all. Sam had no idea what to say and so he said the only thing he could think of. “This was a nice place,” he said, “good food.”

James pulled his head off the wall lazily and nodded. “Yeah,” he mumbled barely looking at Sam, instead he looked over his shoulder to see who was coming out the door.

Well that went nowhere, Sam thought. He'd promised Peggy he would be civil so he tried again. “The game should be nice tomorrow, it’s not supposed to be quite so hot. Being an early game should help too. Peggy says you guys got good seats.”

"Do you enjoy small talk as a rule?" James asked abruptly turning back from looking at the door to look at him.

Normally Sam might have laughed because he hated small talk, he hated it even when he was doing it, but in this case the question irritated him. Like a simple conversation was beyond him. What else was there to say to someone who isn’t actually interested in talking to you?

"No, you're right," said Sam unable to hold back his sarcasm any more, "I prefer to be unsociable and reticent. Makes everything so enjoyable." He was considering walking away to go join Riley but he swore he saw a hint of that smirk again and he finally spoke.

“I thought Natasha was bad about cars,” James said, “but your friend Riley is pretty passionate himself.” When Sam finally got a good look at him, his face seemed somehow softer now.

“Yeah well, Riley’s a pretty passionate person.” Sam said. He knew that came out sounding wrong the moment it left his mouth, but before he could correct himself Natasha and Peggy came out to join them and seconds later Riley returned. As soon as Steve came out they all began walking back to the hotel.

Sam and Riley were walking well ahead of both Steve and Peggy or James and Natasha.

“Were you and Mr. Grumpy Face actually talking back there?” Riley teased draping an arm around Sam’s shoulders.

“Eh… I wouldn’t exactly call it that.” Sam said.

“Ok staring longingly then.” Riley said.

“What planet are you on? He was looking over his shoulder most the time like he couldn’t wait to get away.”

“Yeah, maybe just now, but dude was looking at you tons at dinner. Or did you miss that?”

“I don’t see why, unless he was trying to intimidate me with contempt.” Sam said and Riley laughed hard at that.

Far behind them out of earshot Natasha and James were trailing slowly down the sidewalk.

“You’re quiet,” Natasha said, “penny for your thoughts.”

“Just thinking about a pair of fine eyes.” he said more than a little dreamily.

Natasha snorted, “Fine eyes? You dork. You’re so drunk.”

James huffed a laugh. “Just tipsy,” he said.

“I’m never going to let you forget you said that,” she warned.

James didn’t say anything in return and so they walked back lazily the rest of the way to the hotel in comfortable silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok we're finally just starting to get into the good parts (i.e. my favorite parts) of P&P so I'm writing a bit faster now. *knock on wood* I might even have Ch. 5 up by Wednesday so keep an eye out! Thank you to everyone who's commented so far and I hope you're enjoying the journey. I have [a tumblr here](http://cylondorothy.tumblr.com) if you'd like to come say hello over there too.


	5. Exposure to Ridicule

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what was originally outlined to be chapter 4 has now turned into chapters 4, 5 (and soon to be posted) 6. Enjoy!!

 

James had fallen asleep drowsy and easy after they got back, but now at 5 AM he could do nothing but stare at the ceiling. It had been a while since the last time this had happened. His eyes skimmed across the room illuminated by the bright full moon still outside the window. Steve’s suitcase propped against the wall, Natasha’s hoodie draped over the back of the loveseat, an unopened bottle of water placed on the night stand. He smiled, thankful for whoever had thought to leave it there for him as he realized just how thirsty he was. He cracked the lid open and gulped down nearly half the bottle, mentally cursing the third glass of wine he’d decided to order earlier. This insomnia always seemed to happen when he drank more than a glass or two of any alcohol, and so he usually refrained from drinking anything at all. There were already too many things that interrupted his sleep these days.

He thought of Sam again, remembering the warmth to his eyes how he put people around him at ease. He admired Sam’s ability to take everything in stride, even in the presence of an instigator like Natasha, or even his own decidedly rowdy friend Riley.

As he slid out of bed, the cool air was a welcome relief to his overly warm skin. His robotic arm was stiff from lack of movement and he stretched as the scale-like pieces shifted up and down with his movements. He pulled his human arm across his chest enjoying the stretch in his shoulder but making sure not to pull too hard.

He’d been fitted with the robotic arm less than a year ago and so he was still learning to control the movements, to recognize pressure and strengths. He had no problems in the field, holding a gun, push-ups, climbing things, these exercises were more intense and so in a way easier to control because of that. Smaller things though, like peeling fruit without squishing it or grabbing a cup tight enough that it didn't fall to the floor but not so tight that it cracked under his grip were much more challenging and frustrating. He knew it would take time and patience to learn all the intricate movements and he was grateful to have Steve and Natasha around for support on bad days.

He glanced over to Nat who was still sleeping soundly. He envied her ability to sleep like a rock just about anywhere. Steve stirred a little but he wasn't worried about him waking either. He decided to take a warm shower to clear his mind and maybe grab an early breakfast if the cafe a few doors down was open early.

Luckily, the cafe was open and so James ordered a coffee, a bagel and grabbed a newspaper sitting in the corner of the otherwise empty place.

About half an hour later the door chimed and in walked Sam, beads of sweat on his forehead and his purple t-shirt drenched through the back. James couldn't help but notice his breathing wasn't quite steady either. There was a trail of faint footprints from the door to the counter because his shoes had somehow gotten covered in mud.

He apologized first thing when the young woman came out from the back with a fresh batch of blueberry muffins. “I’m so sorry about the mud. I tried my best to wipe off what I could before I came in. I’d be happy to mop it up if you want.”

She smiled with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it, happens all the time.”

“Didn’t realize that park across the way would have so much mud,” he laughed.

She nodded. “Yeah the geese tear the grass up so it becomes a mess after it rains.”

“Geese are evil.”

She laughed. “Agreed. So what can I get for you?”

He leaned casually over the counter eyeing the tray she’d just set down. “Hm well, I was just going to get some water, but those muffins smell amazing.”

“They’re our specialty,” she beamed, “made from scratch every day. Only one batch made every morning until they’re sold out. We get lines here on the weekdays for ‘em.”

“Well how can I resist that?” he asked raising his eyebrows at her. “So,” he paused eyeing her name tag, “Lisa, I’ll have one of those giant  blueberry muffins, a bottle of water, and how about a cup of coffee too.” Then he gave her one of those delighted grins that made his eyes crinkle at the corners.

Maybe Natasha had been wrong about Sam’s preferences, James thought as he watched the way Sam casually flirted with the young woman.

“Coming right up.” she chimed and chuckled softly, glancing back over her shoulder to get a secret peek at Sam as he turned away from the counter glancing at the tv hanging in the opposite corner of the room. It was on but muted.

James wondered if he should say something to make his presence known but just as he was about to say something, Sam’s voice broke all the silence in the room.

“Shit,” Sam muttered. “Shit, shit,” he repeated.

“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked half way through filling up Sam’s coffee cup.

“Can you unmute that TV for just a minute?” he asked.

Lisa turned to look at James now. “Do you mind if we turn this up for a few minutes sir?” she asked.

He shook his head no. “Go ahead,” he said as Sam’s confused eyes darted in his direction.

“How long have you been here?” Sam asked.

“The whole time,” he said.

“Man, you should wear bells or something, you’re like a ghost, I didn't even see you.”

James smiled weakly glancing down at the table. “Yeah, I get that sometimes. Sorry.”

Sam shrugged with half a smile and opened his mouth to say something when Lisa unmuted the TV pulling Sam’s attention away.

James couldn't see what was on the screen, his view blocked by a beam that hung low in the middle of the room but he could hear the newscaster giving a weather update.

_Tropical Storm Lorraine was upgraded to a Hurricane last night and the storm took a sudden turn. Instead of hitting the Gulf it is now expected to make landfall somewhere between Florida and the Carolinas. Current calculations expect it to make landfall near Savannah, Georgia in the next few days. The storm is growing fast and will likely be category 4 by the time it makes landfall. If that is the case, this will be a sad bit of history in the making, marking the first time in over a century that a category 4 hurricane has had a direct impact with the coast of Georgia. Emergency officials are preparing for the worst and warning the Savannah metropolitan area residents to evacuate inland, if at all possible, and make sure their homes are secured for the storm._

“Well damn, there goes my relaxing beach vacation,” Sam grumbled.

“Oh man, that sucks," said Lisa "I guess better you know now than get stuck in a hurricane at least.” She set the coffee, muffin and water down on the counter in front of him. “Here, have another muffin on the house,” she smiled grabbing another from the tray behind her.

“Oh, no I couldn't, but thanks.”

“Well give it to your friend then.” She said nodding in James’ direction.

“He’s not my-” Sam started and then stopped abruptly.

James knew what he’d been about to say and he honestly didn't blame him, they barely even knew each other, let alone spoke. Still, he couldn't help from feeling embarrassed so he stuck his face further into the paper reading something about a new exhibit opening at the Coca Cola Museum, trying his hardest to pretend he hadn't heard.

Sam, thankfully, hadn't tried to come over and apologize, door chiming behind him a few moments later.

When the coast was finally clear he lowered the paper, folding it back up and was surprised to see the blueberry muffin sitting near the edge of the table placed neatly on a napkin.

\---

Everyone was up and getting ready by the time James got back to the room.

Steve paused in his tracks with a concerned look when James stepped in through the door. “There you are, we were worried Buck. Where’ve you been?” he asked.

“Just down the street at the cafe. Woke up too early and left my phone here, sorry,” he explained.

Steve nodded. “Okay, well, get ready ‘cause we’re leaving in about an hour. Still gotta pack up the car. Oh, and there’s been a change of plans. Sam and Peggy are just going to drive to Ft. Benning tomorrow instead of following us down there today.”

For a moment James thought he’d misheard. “Sam and Peggy?”

Steve folded up and placed his pjs back in his suitcase. “Yeah, that hurricane coming in took a sharp turn and is headed towards Savannah, I guess. Looks to be a big one too. So, of course, Sam’s flight to Savannah got cancelled.Peggy said he tried to get on the flight with Riley to Jacksonville, but it was already overbooked so they gave him a voucher for some other time. And then, on top of everything Riley’s flight to Jacksonville has been delayed until tomorrow morning. So they both decided to stay overnight to drop him off at the airport tomorrow before coming our way instead of having Peggy cramped into Natasha’s corvette with us.”

“Why wouldn't they just drive back to Moody?" he asked.

"Because," Steve laughed, "Peggy’s vacation included coming down with us. And whatever Peggy wants, Peggy gets."

"Damn right," Natasha shouted from the bathroom.

"Oh." And he could believe it too. Not just anyone made Major at such a young age. He wondered if Sam even bothered arguing with her at all.

Natasha walked out of bathroom flicking off the light and placed her finger under James' jaw to shut his mouth still hanging open. She winked at him, and then mouthed what he was pretty sure was _fine eyes_ at him.

He rolled his eyes at her and started picking up his own things around the room.

Steve squinted curiously at them but after a moment returned to packing up the last of his things as well. "I think Sam will probably just stay the one night and then drive himself back on Tuesday. Or maybe Peggy will drive him back and then drive back up to us. I don't know. We'll work it all out later."

\---

“How can you hate the Saints?” Steve asked Riley as they all filed out of the shuttle they hired to take them to the game.

“I didn’t say that. I said the Falcons are gonna whoop the Saints ass. Besides, how can you live in Georgia and not support the home team?” Riley asked.

“Well, technically they’re not my home team. I’m from New York.”

“Wait, what part?” Sam interrupted.

“Brooklyn, me and Bucky both.” Steve said gesturing towards James.

“Nice, I grew up in Harlem, my sister still lives there.”

“Hey that's awesome. Bucky's sister still lives in Brooklyn too,” Steve grinned.

"Hold on," Sam said stopping mid-step and whirling around holding up a finger, "Giants or Jets?" he eyed Steve very seriously.

Steve hissed a laugh shaking his head. "Giants, of course!"

Sam clutched his chest dramatically, "You cut me deep. I thought I could trust you."

Everyone was laughing now and James couldn't help but join in too, even if he was also a Giants fan.

"Hey don't get me wrong," Steve said, "I support the Jets too. It's not like they're actual rivals."

"Unlike the Falcons and Saints." Riley pitched in.

"I'm with him," Sam said motioning toward Riley. "Unleash the Falcons baby!"

James overheard Peggy whisper to Steve, "Don't tell, but I swear he just likes the Falcons because they're his favorite favorite plane. And maybe a little because Riley likes them."

Steve laughed to himself and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she wrapped an arm around his waist.

\---

James didn't actually care one way or the other who won the game he just enjoyed being around his friends and doing something different than his daily routine for once. Unfortunately, it went from pleasant to uncomfortable in a matter of seconds when Natasha decided after halftime she had to talk to Peggy. She made James get up and switch spots with her and now he was sitting next to Sam. He was pretty sure Natasha had planned the whole thing and glared at her as she ignored him in favor of Peggy.

Sam sat on his left now and suddenly James was keenly aware of each and every movement from Sam, and his own body as well, it made him self conscious in every way. Sam bumped his elbow into his robotic one and mumbled an apology, looking embarrassed. They both pulled their arms off the rest after that.

James tried to think of something thoughtful to say to make things less awkward and finally decided, "Do you go to Savannah often?"

Sam glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, then back to the field, then finally back at him with a confused expression like he only just realized James had been talking to him. "Not as often as I'd like. I've been a couple times. Mostly just to relax at a beach house a friend of mine rents out."

James tried to imagine himself relaxing on a beach. His grandparents had a house in the Hamptons that he hadn't seen in nearly ten years. That was the last time he'd set foot on sand that wasn't in the desert. "Sounds nice."

"Yeah, it is." Sam said with a small smile and then suddenly snapping his attention back to the field as the crowd amped up and running back, Steven Jackson, ran in a spectacular 31 yard touchdown.

On Sam's other side Riley hopped to his feet cheering loudly and slopped beer all over the front of his jersey. He gulped the rest down and crumpled the cup under his foot. "More!" he demanded dramatically before laughing.

"Calm the hell down," Sam reprimanded as he stood up. "You're getting out of line," he said in a hushed whisper now.

Riley belched obnoxious and loud, and then laughed as Sam scrubbed at his face in frustration.

"That's it, water only for you. No more beer.  Anyone need anything from the concession?" Sam asked eyeing them all and then landing at last on James.

Everyone shook their heads no. James did the same, quickly shifting his eyes away to stare at the peanut shells on the ground, before he found himself staring for too long again. He didn't know exactly what it was about Sam that made him want to just watch, but he knew it was rude to stare so he was trying his best to not make things more awkward.

Sam pushed Riley gently back into his seat and told him to stay put as he bounded up the stairs.

Riley laughed to himself and then leaned over Sam's seat facing James with drunken half lidded eyes. "Hey, James."

James eyed him nervously. "Uh, hey?"

Riley laughed slapping the back of his hand to James' metal shoulder, flinching a little at the contact, and then re-focusing back on him. "You know, Sam's a fool. I don't care what you said before, you're hot as fuck and I'd let you-"

"Oooookay mister," Natasha interrupted darting out of her seat to grip Riley by the shoulders. "Let's go for a walk."

"You too, I'd let you..." he started mumbling again staring intently at her, but was quickly interrupted again.

"Wrong tree sweetie, wrong tree," she said marching him up the stairs patting his back sympathetically.

James was all at once embarrassed, horrified, and stunned.

"Oh my god." Peggy said sounding at least half as mortified as he felt. "I'm so sorry James. So so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into him. I will have a word with him tomorrow. I sincerely apologize, that's not at all like Riley."

"No, that's not necessary, Peggy, but thank you."

"No, honestly,” she insisted, “I'll handle it, that was completely out of line."

He shook his head again meeting her eyes this time. "It's really not a big deal, don't worry about it."

Natasha and Riley returned after a few minutes and Riley apologized for what he'd said remaining abnormally quiet for the rest of the game.

Sam returned with his arms full of bottles of water for each of them and a few extras for Riley as well. He seemed to notice the hush that fell on everyone but didn't say anything and just fidgeted restlessly in his chair. Either that, or James was now even _more_ aware of Sam's every move. Maybe it was little of both.

They called the shuttle early and left about 10 minutes before the end because by that point the Falcons were up by 21 points and there was no point in being stuck in traffic if they didn't have to be.

Back at the hotel, everyone said their goodbyes, except for Riley who'd passed out in the shuttle and had to be hauled up to their room by Sam and Steve.

Before that, Sam hugged Natasha saying he wished he'd gotten a ride in her car sometime and she promised to do it tomorrow if they got down in time. He even shook James hand saying it was nice to meet him, though he was pretty sure he knew better. Sams hands were warm a little damp and a lot softer than what he'd expected.

As Sam and Steve lugged Riley upstairs, Peggy gave James a solid hug apologizing for Riley again. Then she hugged Natasha pleading with her to drive safe this time. Natasha gave her an annoyed look but then smiled and said she would go no more than 10 MPH over the speed limit, which Peggy seemed satisfied with.

When Steve came back down he grinned widely and then twirled Peggy around suddenly pressing a kiss to her mouth. "We're going dancing when you get down there tomorrow night."

"It's a date," she promised.

 


	6. A New Acquaintance

“He said what?!” Sam snapped as Peggy explained what happened at the game. He groaned clenching his jaw in frustration. This week was going from bad to worse by the day.

\---

Sam set his alarm early for another run the next morning, but avoided the park this time. He stopped by the cafe again which he noticed now was aptly named _Cafe Myrtille_. He grabbed some coffee, orange juice and three fresh muffins for himself, Peggy and Riley. Lisa hadn’t been kidding about the line though, already at 6 AM he had to wait for nearly 10 minutes behind a crowd of businessmen in suits.

When he got back Peggy was awake, hair wrapped in a towel while she watched the news at a low volume. Riley was still passed out so he handed her a bag with a muffin and a coffee saying to let him sleep until after he’d showered.

Peggy was dressed and had her makeup done by the time he’d come out and she snuck into the bathroom to dry her hair as Sam starting picking up his things around the room.

“Wakey wakey,” Sam said tossing the bag with the lst muffin at Riley who was still asleep.

Riley jerked awake at the sudden impact to his chest. “Huh?”

“Time to get your ass up.” Sam said setting Riley’s coffee on the nightstand with a thud.

“Who pissed in your Wheaties?” Riley grumbled rubbing his eyes.

“That would be you, mister I’ll offer to fuck anyone who looks at me twice, even when it could get you a sexual harassment charge and possibly discharged completely.” Sam ranted stuffing his clothes into his back with more force than was necessary.

“What the hell are you…” and then it finally dawned on Riley’s face. “Oh, shit.” Riley slumped back on his pillow closing his eyes tightly like he hoped he was dreaming. “Shit!” he cursed again.

“Yeah.”

“Sam, dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he’d grown on you. I-”

“What?” Sam ignored weird drop in his stomach that had just happened and whirled around. “No, you dumbass. I don’t give a crap about James fucking Barnes. What are we going to do if you get discharged huh? What if this gets back to Colonel Phillips?”

Riley sighed, “I don’t know.”

“Not to mention,” Peggy joined in as she emerged from the bathroom running her fingers through her hair, “My ass will be on the line as well.”

“Peg, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for…”

“Save it. It’s done.We can’t change what happened now, just don’t ever bloody do it again.”

“I swear,” Riley promised.

Her face softened and she smiled unable to stay mad at him. “Good. Now hurry up and get ready. Your flight leaves in 3 hours, we need to get you to the airport.”

\---

They dropped Riley off at the airport and decided to eat lunch before heading out just in case Riley’s flight was cancelled or delayed again.

Peggy was thumbing at her phone while they waited for their food to arrive. “So what’ll it be? Motel 6, Econo Lodge, Hampton Inn or Suburban Extended Stay Fort Benning?”

Sam frowned and shrugged, “Where are you staying?”

“The extended stay place.”

“Why didn’t Steve just get you approved as an overnight guest?”

Peggy blushed at that. “Well, since he and James are roommates, we thought maybe…”

“Ah, say no more,” Sam laughed. “I always thought that was a little strange. Why would Steve have a roommate when he could have officer quarters all to himself?”

Peggy sucked in a breath considering her words. “It’s complicated, not for me to say really,” she decided.

Sam wasn’t exactly sure what that meant but he respected that Peggy didn’t feel comfortable talking about it.

“I’m sorry to intrude,” a young man with an accent similar to Peggy’s said the next table over, “I couldn’t help but hear your accent. Are you English?”

“I have dual citizenship, but yes my father was English and I grew up in London until I was a teen.”

“Oh, what a small world!” he laughed, his thin lips revealing a near perfect smile. “Me too. My mother was English and my father was stationed in Germany, though I grew up in London for the most part myself.”

“Ah my mother was in the military as well.” Peggy nodded.

“And what about you?” he asked his soft grey eyes flicking to Sam.

“Nope definitely not English,” Sam said and the man barked a laugh at that. “Had a pretty normal childhood, well normal enough. Only joined the service after I ran out of money to pay for school myself.”

“That’s a pity,” the man said looking honestly sorry. “What were you studying?”

“Social work,” he said fidgeting with the napkin in his lap. “But I can always go back to finish up later,” he said spouting out the excuse he’d told himself a thousand times before.

“Certainly,” the man nodded. “What branch are you two in?”

“Air Force.” he and Peggy said at the same time.

“Pararescue Jumpers.” Sam added.

“Wow, I was embedded with an army unit a few years ago, but I would’ve given everything to see you guys in action.”

“Embedded?” Sam asked.

“Oh, I was a columnist for The Times in the UK back then, they sent me in to write about the details of what army life was like. Broke off a bit more than I could chew there, I must admit.”

“Why’s that?” Peggy asked.

“Well,” he tapped his chin, “perhaps you remember the story a few years ago about a unit that came under fire and were ordered to retreat, but one sergeant there disobeyed his orders saving the lives of several allies in the process. Sergeant Barnes as I recall.”

Sam and Peggy’s eyes snapped to each other in disbelief

“Yes,” Peggy nodded finally overcoming the surprise, “that’s correct.”

“Oh?” said the man, “Do you know him?”

“Only a little.” Peggy said. “That was your story?”

“No, sadly,” he admitted. “Though I’d be remiss to say I do believe it should have been my story.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Peggy offered with a sympathetic glance.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Sam couldn’t resist asking, “How did you not get the full story even though you were there?”

“Please know, I’m not one to spread accusations,” he began but paused thinking through his words. He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck, fingers brushing the light blonde curls at the nape. “For his part I do believe Sergeant Barnes is a hero for what he did that day, however I also believe he resented my being there and flatly refused to speak with me at all after he was well enough.”

Of course he had, Sam thought. That sounds exactly like the kind of thing Barnes would do. “Sorry man, that’s a tough break,” said Sam.

“Yeah, unfortunately the paper sacked me only a few months later, and it took a while to get back on my feet, but here we are, I survived. I’m working for The New York Post now, which is about as prestigious as writing for The Mirror,” he nodded at Peggy and laughed, not bitterly, but there was a hint of annoyance there. “Please don’t get me wrong though, I’m not angry about it now, this was several years ago and I do a lot of freelance as well. Slowly but surely  I am making a name for myself again.”

“Which is?” Sam prompted.

The man looked confused for a moment and then realized what Sam had been asking, “Oh forgive me,” he laughed. “I’m Tony Duranti,” he said sticking his hand out to shake Sam’s.

“Sam Wilson.”

“Peggy Carter,” she said taking his hand after.

“Pleasure to meet you both.”

“So, Mr. Duranti, what are you in Atlanta for?” Peggy asked obviously welcoming a change of subject.

“Ah, I was just covering an amateur golfer who finished as the youngest quarter-finalist at the US Amateurs. He’s quite impressive. And his father is a pro at a country club named Sleepy Hollow if you can believe it.” Tony laughed squinting his eyes shut in amusement.

Sam laughed trying to imagine anyone wanting to golf somewhere named Sleepy Hollow.

Peggy and Sam invited Tony to join them at their table as their food arrived and chatted more about the stories he was working on and he fawned over Peggy’s own accomplishments at the embassy last year. Before they realized it, they had been sitting there for nearly 2 hours.

“Sam we’d better hit the road soon,” Peggy said tapping her wrist.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Tony apologized, “I didn’t mean to hold you up.”

“No, it’s okay, we’re not in a huge rush or anything, but she’s right we should probably head out here soon.”

“I’m just going to go out and call Steve. If you give me the keys and I’ll go pull the car up too,” she offered holding her hand out.

“Sure,” Sam said standing to fish the keys out of the pocket.

“It was lovely to meet you again Ms. Carter,” Tony said shaking her hand again.

“You as well, take care.”

“Thank you for inviting me to eat with you both,” Tony said to Sam as Peggy walked towards the exit.

“Oh it’s no problem, it was a nice change of pace to have something to talk about besides work.” Sam smiled.

“It was my pleasure,” Tony said holding his hand out to shake his.

Sam gripped his hand but was genuinely surprised when Tony smiled shyly at him and brushed his fingers as he let go.

“Forgive me if I’m being too forward, or misread you,” Tony said looking Sam in the eye and then at his feet and then back up again, “but, I would like to give you my card. Perhaps if you’re in New York sometime we might grab a drink?”

Sam’s heart thudded, was he hitting on him? It had been too long. He felt his mouth turn up involuntarily and a laugh bubbled out of his throat, “No, yeah. I mean, no you didn’t misread me and yeah I’d love your card.”

Tony laughed nervously. “Great.” He pulled his wallet out slipping a business card out, placing it in Sam’s open palm and brushing his fingers along his again.

Sam couldn’t help but let his eyes trail over the man, a white button up that revealed his small but toned frame, a pair of black slacks the sat nicely on his waist. He wished suddenly he could stay and see if Tony would help him work out some of his frustrations that’d been building up over the last few weeks. He shook the thought aside though remembering Peggy was waiting for him outside.

“I’d better go, Peggy’s waiting, but I’ll call you,” Sam smiled

“I’ll look forward to it,” Tony said with a playful wink.

When Sam hopped into the car Peggy laughed outright and grabbed her phone saying, “You should see your face right now.”

“Wait, you knew?” Sam turned to her before she could take a photo.

“Oh Sam, you’re so oblivious sometimes I could shake you. He was gazing at you for a solid five minutes before he interrupted our conversation,” she explained.

“Yeah, well just my luck, I won’t be in New York again until Christmas. I highly doubt a man like that will be single three months from now.”

“You’ve been single a lot longer than that,” Peggy pointed out.

“Don’t remind me,” he pouted. “Besides, it’s different, you know how hard it is…”

“Yeah,” she admitted.

“I can’t believe he was embedded with Barnes, poor bastard.”

Peggy sighed not hiding her frustration. “We don’t know the whole story, Sam,” she reminded him.

“Yeah well, sounded pretty cut-and-dried to me.”

“We all have a right to privacy Sam, even James. And I’ll remind you he’s not under any obligation to share his story with anyone, let alone the press.”

Sam sighed. She was right. He knew she was right, it just rubbed him the wrong way that James would let a man lose his job over something everyone already knew about, something that was covered in the media non-stop for months after he got back anyway.

\---

As they arrived in Columbus, Georgia a few hours later news reports on the radio of Hurricane Lorraine made it clear it would likely make landfall tomorrow sometime.

“Sam, I know it’s the last thing you want, but I’d feel so much more comfortable if you stayed here for a couple nights until the storm has cleared.” Peggy said as they pulled up to her hotel.

Sam sighed, she was right again, it _was_ the last thing he wanted to do but he knew he should do it anyway. He booked his own room for three nights and asked the woman at the front desk if he could use their laundry to wash some of his clothes. She explained that the card for his room would open the laundry room, kitchen, gym and business center as needed and then he went to his room to unpack his things.

His phone rang a while later and he found himself hoping it would be Tony calling. He picked it up to see it was Peggy only just as he remembered he hadn’t given Tony his number earlier.

“What’s up?” he answered.

“Steve and I are going out dancing at this little bar a few miles down the road if you want to join us.

Food sounded good but he wasn’t quite in the mood to be social. “Nah, not tonight, I think I’m just going to relax and read for a while before I call it a night.”

“Your loss,” she teased happily.

“Have fun Peg,” he said. “Call me in the morning after you’re up.”

After he hung up he decided to send Tony a text.

_Tony this is Sam. I just wanted to say again how nice it was to meet you and to give you my number as well, in case you’re ever around Valdosta for some reason._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For what it's worth, the amateur golf kid story and his father being a pro at a country club named Sleepy Hollow is actually [a news story at the NYP website](http://nypost.com/2014/08/15/17-year-old-making-dazzling-run-at-us-amateur/). ;)


	7. Looks Like Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So very sorry for the delay on this chapter. I hit a bump in the road and finally got past it on Friday. I have a few other parts written now so it should go smoother for at least the next few chapters, but thank you all so much for your lovely comments and sticking with me!

At the bar James glanced over his shoulder at Peggy and Steve who were swaying to the songs they’d picked from the jukebox. Steve’s jaw had nearly dropped to the floor when she walked in and James didn’t blame him, Peggy looked stunning in a bright red dress and heels that brought her nearly to Steve's height. Steve had been so awestruck that he could barely even speak so James not so subtly shoved Steve’s shoulder in her direction telling them to go pick a few songs while he ordered drinks.

Peggy glanced up over Steve's shoulder towards him, grinned and mouthed what he was pretty sure was _thank you_  at him. He turned back towards the bar and picked absently at the napkin under his glass. He’d been under the impression Sam was going to be there, but when Peggy showed up she said he’d been tired and decided to stay in. He wouldn’t say he was disappointed, it was more that he didn’t want to be an awkward third wheel tonight. He picked up his phone deciding to text his sister to distract himself. When she didn’t reply after a few minutes he tucked his phone away taking the final swig of his drink.

“Can I get you another?” asked Phil, the bartender.

“No thanks, Phil. I think I’m gonna call it an early night and let those two have some fun,” he said gesturing over his shoulder. “This should cover our tab, keep the change.”

Phil nodded and thanked him before he slipped quietly out the front door.

\---

The next morning he had the entire place to himself. He woke early, the pale light dawn dimly lit the kitchen as he shuffled in to pour himself a cup of coffee. He pulled out the skillet and made himself a full hot breakfast since today and the next were light duty half days and he the time to take time for breakfast. It would be a few weeks until he’d have time for a decent breakfast after this since a new set of trainees were scheduled to bus in two days from now. It would be the start of three weeks of classes and two more weeks of training, middle of the night drills, testing and long 10+ hour days ahead of them.

When he sat down with this plate, he turned on the tv and changed it to a local news channel hoping to catch the weather. There was a story on about people lining up to buy lottery tickets at a local gas station that had sold several high dollar winning tickets, though no jackpot yet. Finally, the weather came on. It was going to be in the upper 90's the rest of the week, though thunderstorms spawned from Hurricane Lorraine were supposed to blow through the area tonight.

As anticipated the hurricane was big, moving very fast, and due to make landfall on the coast sometime in the next few hours. They reported that many people were still stranded in the Savannah areas and James wished he could do something to help. He hoped it wouldn't be so bad that they'd be called in though, because that would only mean things would be beyond catastrophic. He finished his coffee, ironed his clothes for the day and hung them on the door to cool as he washed his face, shaved and combed his hair back. He realized was going to need to get it cut again soon.

It was 9:45 when he stepped through the door into the instructors office, only Sergeant Banner there before him. He nodded his greeting and the other instructors filed in shortly after. Today they were reviewing the files of the new trainees that were scheduled to arrive in a couple days to see who might be good partners they could pair up in teams.

“Oh, we got ourselves a lady this time,” said one of the newer instructors. “Miss Katie Bishop. 5’5 and 120 lbs. Her gun and the pack are nearly a third her own weight. I’m impressed she made it this far.”

Glancing over his shoulder James realized it was Staff Sergeant Grant Ward. James barely knew him, but he recognized the man’s tendancy to spout out backhanded compliments and manipulative comments almost immediately and disliked him for it. Others however, were convinced he was a stand up guy and had their backs, but James knew from experience there was nothing he could say to change their opinions until they saw for themselves what kind of man he truly was.

”If you look closer, Ward,” James said looking directly at him, “you’ll see her marksmanship and physical fitness average are even better than yours when you started. I'm sure she's got a pretty strong shot at making it through.” There was a murmur from the other instructors and he thought he heard Ward mumble something else, but thankfully after a moment he shut up, only casting a few glares James’ way as they went over the rest of the files.

About half an hour later the phone in the office rang unexpectedly. Banner answered, it was a short one sided conversation and ended quickly with a, “Yes, sir.”

“Barnes, Colonel Fury requesting you to report to his office.”

\---

Colonel Nicholas Fury was a man who James had known less than a year, but someone he respected immensely. Natasha had been the one to introduce them and though Fury had never said a word about it, James was pretty sure she was the one who'd gotten some strings pulled for his transfer to the Sniper School shortly after finishing his rehab as well.

James knocked on the fame of the open office door then saluted, “Sir, Sgt. Barnes reporting.”

“At ease,” said Fury, “Please have a seat.”

James nodded and sat not having a clue what he was being called in for.

“As you are probably aware,” Fury began, “we have had a team of analysts in from DC around these past few week to reform our recordkeeping process and organization. During this next training class, I have assigned two analysts to shadow you and the instructors to evaluate the process and make any suggestions for improvements at the end of the course.”

“Understood, sir.” James acknowledged.

“Good. Major Victoria Hand and Specialist Jasper Sitwell will report to the instructors office tomorrow at 1300 so that you can give them a quick tour. Make sure the other instructors understand they are to be respectful of our guests and they are not to interfere with their task.”

“Yes, sir,” he said. Must be the same Sitwell, from the ball, he thought. That’s just great.

\----

“We're going for dinner at Natasha’s new place tonight,” Steve called out from the couch as James came through the front door at the end of the day.

“I might take a rain check, we’ve got some analysts coming in to evaluate us starting tomorrow.” James said as he yanked the tails of his shirt from his waistband and and popped open the buttons fanning the edges of the shirt, swirling cool air from the apartment around him.

“She’s making homemade lasagna and said she won’t send leftovers back unless you come,” Steve said.

It was an empty threat and James knew it, but he sighed and hung his head in defeat anyway. He wasn’t exactly sure what, if anything, she had planned tonight, but he knew she must want him there for a reason. Lasagna was one of the very few of his favorite home cooked meals he’d almost never say no to. “I’ll get changed,” he said.

As they walked through Natasha’s front door Sam’s laughter bounced off the walls of the hall entrance, he hadn’t realized Sam would still be here tonight and ignored the weird twinge in his stomach. James’ eyes followed the sound of Sam’s laughter and there he stood, a hip leaning casually against the side of a bar stool, a hand propped on the other hip tugging his red t-shirt taught against his tapered waist. He was talking to Natasha, something about engines or horsepower or something, and she was chopping up a head of lettuce at the island in the open kitchen.

She noticed them come in, stopping mid chop to smile mischievously in their direction. “Speaking of being built for speed and performance,” she teased with a wink.

Steve snorted and chuckled next to him and James smiled but shot her a warning glare before rolling his eyes determined not to let her embarrass him, even if she'd recently made it her number one life goal.

Sam turned to see who Natasha was talking to and their eyes met briefly as James nodded his hello, but felt his eyes drawn to the smile that lingered on Sam's face from whatever Natasha had been saying. Soft parenthesis of his cheeks curved around the full lips of his mouth.

Natasha cleared her throat snapping his attention away.

"What can I help with?" he asked resisting a sudden urge to lick his lips.

"Wanna grab some wine from the fridge in the garage?"

"Sure," he agreed and backtracked to the hall entrance taking the side door the the garage. Half the garage was stacked with boxes along the wall and a couple pieces of furniture covered in plastic. Natasha's Corvette sat shining and quiet on the other side and he wondered if she'd taken Sam for a ride yet. He opened the fridge door staring in absently trying to decide which one to grab. Sam must be some kind of thrill junkie, he thought, always on the go, jumping out of helicopters in life or death situations to save someone's life. He wondered what else besides relaxing on a beach slowed him down. The thought of Sam only half dressed on a beach took over his brain momentarily and this time he licked his lips involuntarily.

"Get lost?" Peggy's voice called out from behind him.

He started and whipped his head around. "Holy crap! You scared me."

She laughed a bright sparkling laugh, eyes squinting shut. "Sorry. Natasha sent me."

He exhaled shaking away the thoughts and the surprise. "Red or white?" he asked.

"How about one of each," she suggested the obvious answer.

When he turned back around he noticed the door handle to the fringe was bent. He looked down at his hands realizing he must have done that when Peggy had startled him and a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach took over. Some days he thought about giving up the experimental arm in favor of something normal, something that wasn't dangerous, especially when something like this happened. But it would mean giving up his career too and he had no idea what he would do or who he was outside of all this. He grabbed one bottle of red and one white closing the door gingerly as he could.

If Peggy noticed, she didn't say a word gladly taking one of the bottles from his hand as he met her at the door.

When they returned Steve and Sam were playing a game of pool. Natasha was the only person he knew that kept a pool table where most people would have a fancy dining table. She'd said it was more entertaining and a better investment since she was alone a lot of the time and she and Jess would rarely even use a huge table when they both were here.

"I take it Jess isn't back yet?" James asked setting bottle on the counter next to where Peggy had put hers down. He fished through a drawer hunting for the corkscrew.

She frowned and sighed, "Not yet, maybe next week or the week after, last I heard."

He shared a sympathetic smile with her.

"Is Jess the person in several of the photos on the mantle?" Peggy asked.

Natasha nodded and said, "Yeah, that's her. I wish you all could've met her." She went quiet for a long stretch of seconds then waved her hand. "Maybe some other time." Suddenly she turned towards James to change the subject, "Hey you should show them that bottle opener trick!"

"Not tonight," he said tersely remembering the disfigured fridge handle. He found the cork screw finally waving it as he picked it up. "Nothing wrong with the old fashioned way."

"Come on James, it's just us," she smiled patting the metal bicep of his left arm playfully.

The sensors in his arm seemed to be more heightened than usual, now that he was so focused on it and the pat to his arm sent a weird stab of pain into his shoulder. He flinched a little away from her touch. "Natasha, don't," he whispered a small hiss to his voice.

A flash of concern crossed her face as she silently tried to determine if he was ok. When he nodded and offered a hint of a smile she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear reaching out to take the bottle and corkscrew from his hands. "Sorry," she said barely above a whisper herself.

"Not your fault," he said softly nudging into her shoulder. No stab of pain this time. When he looked up Peggy was pretending to be interested in the photos on the fire place mantle again, Steve was taking another shot at the table and Sam was frowning at him with a look of confusion or maybe it was anger, he couldn't really tell. He hoped he hadn't just ruined the entire night for everyone.

Since Natasha didn't have a large dining room table they pulled 2 folding tables and a stack of folding chairs from the garage and pushed them together in the middle of the living room. It wasn't fancy, but nobody seemed to mind.

Natasha poured everyone a glass of wine while they set the table.

"Did I ever tell you the story," Steve asked looking at Peggy, "about the time I almost got court-martialed?"

She smiled warily and shook her head. "No, but this should be good."

James almost protested thinking he and Natasha were both in on the goal to embarrass him today, but Steve shot him a pointed look and he let him go on.

"Well, it was not long after Bucky and I first enlisted. Our first sergeant at the time was a huge asshole who verbally harassed several of the men in the unit. And let's just say he wasn't a huge fan of don't ask don't tell, but not because he thought people should be allowed to be open. So one day I'd finally decided I had had enough and I wrote a column for the paper on base using the first sergeant's name. The letter was of course my own opinions about how don't ask don't tell was archaic and that the people who served in the military deserved the same respect and rights we fight for civilians. And let's just say that didn't go over well with the first sergeant."

Peggy's eyes were wide and she laughed, "No, I can't imagine."

"Well," Steve continued, "at first they hauled in Bucky because he was good friends with a few of the people on staff at the paper, but when I heard that I went right over and confessed to writing it myself. To my surprise they kept us both detained since this idiot," he said pointing to James, "had also confessed when they first questioned him. Then one after another about ten of our buddies came in and confessed as well. It was pretty amazing. They didn't know what to do with all of us so the let us off the hook with a stern verbal and written warning, plus night time kitchen and latrine cleaning duties for two months. It was worth it though."

"What happened to the sergeant?" Sam asked.

"He put in a transfer request and I guess they decided it was in everyone's best interest for unit cohesion to move him. We never saw him again."

"That's damn lucky," Peggy noted. "Someone up top must've liked you."

James was about to say that the whole system and favoritism was also part of the problem, but before he could Steve spoke instead.

"Maybe. But I was prepared to leave to prove the point, so it didn't matter to me if I was liked or not."

James smiled remembering the night in holding like it was yesterday. They'd gotten each other out their fair share of bad scrapes, but that was one he'd always be grateful to Steve for. He was sure the other men who'd come along only did it to follow Steve's lead, a born leader.

Any tension that had been there before was now gone.

It started to rain lightly during dinner but as they cleared the table cracks of lightning and thunder filled the sky, the wind picked up and tree limbs whipped around like they were dancing.

"Maybe we should head back?" James suggested as he got a good look out the back door.

As if on cue balls of hail began clacking on the roof and splatting on the patio out back and the lights flickered off.

Natasha said, "Stay a bit longer until it lets up. I'll grab the candles and we can play cards until then."

Natasha chose a simple game called 31 and explained the rules to Peggy and Sam who'd never played before. By the fourth round the wine from earlier had finally set in making James feel more relaxed and conversational.

"Do what makes you happy is a little misleading though, don't you think?" Peggy asked drawing a card from the deck.

"Not exactly. You find something you're good at and something you like and it's one less thing to worry about, it's a part of happiness." James offered.

"Ok, but what if what you like and are good at isn't something you can make a profit from?" Sam suggested. "What if some people don't have that opportunity to try and make a business of their hobbies, or worse, what they love to do isn't something they can do without a degree they can't afford, are they doomed to be miserable forever?"

James shook his head and smiled, he could tell Sam was pushing now. "No, but we've seen time and time again people who fight for their dreams, do what they love and say they don't regret what they had to give up to get there first."

"But that's not the point," Sam said a little more sternly now, "some people have nothing to give up to chase that dream in the first place. People need the opportunity or some kind of safety net to get there and sometimes food on the table or a roof over your head is good enough knowing you're not going to be on the street next week."

"Wouldn't you always wonder what if?" James asked.

"No." Sam said flatly the muscle in his jaw clenching as he seemed to choose his words. "Look, for example, I like to cook okay? It's relaxing, it makes people happy, the end product is something you can see the effort you put into it. But I wouldn't want to be a professional cook or chef even if I could. The pleasure or _happiness_ " he emphasized, "that I get from it isn't in making money from it, or making a career of it. That would probably ruin it. So I do something else for a living and spend my spare time doing things that make me happy."

"So why choose pararescue then? That seems like a pretty specific field to get into just for a paycheck."

"Your turn," Peggy interrupted nudging Sam's elbow. He picked up a card considering them and shuffled them around and discarded another as he laid his card back on the table.

"I didn't say I hated what I do," Sam said finally, "but even if I did, if if it wasn't my first career choice or my dream, it doesn't make me less happy in general than anyone else. There are so many other factors at work when considering someone's state of happiness. I mean, tell me this, if a reporter loses their job because they can't land a story does that mean they can never find a satisfying career again? What if a photographer who loves their job goes blind are they a less happy person because they've lost that one career choice? Can they ever be that happy again? I like to think so."

James was stunned silent for a moment because all he could think of was losing his own arm and how much it had changed his life. He'd never been an overly enthusastic kind of person but he'd felt a sense of pride in himself, that he was good at his job, he'd never thought about doing anything else until the accident. Lately though he didn't know what he'd wanted and thought if he could get back to at least instructing he'd feel useful again.

"Wine makes me happy," Natasha interjected seeming to sense James' discomfort. Everyone laughed a little nervously.

Sam sighed as if realizing he'd stepped over a boundary he hadn't meant to. James didn't look up to see the expression on his face though, still considering his own thoughts.

"I guess, what I'm saying," Sam began again, "is that if someone has the drive, opportunity and privilege to go after their dreams then good for them. I don't and wouldn't resent them for that, but I also believe people having a sense of security in their well being with a less than desirable career choice or a change in life circumstance can still be happy and content and that people shouldn't say they can't just because they're not living their dream."

"I'll drink to that," Steve agreed.

James nodded taking a sip of his wine even if he wasn't entirely sure it was true.

 

 


	8. A Foolish Man

They continued to play a few more rounds, until Sam was on his last quarter. After losing again, he tossed it to the pile in defeat. "I'm out," he said scooting back from the table leaving only James and Peggy to play to win. His head was still swirling from their debate earlier. He couldn't understand after everything James had been through how he could still believe that everyone could just get up and chase after one perfect ideal and that would be worth any sacrifice. But then again, this was the same man who ruined Tony's career. Perhaps he did think one major event could ruin things, which made what he did to Tony even more spiteful. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what that said about James and his own career? Sam didn't know what to make of it and that confused him more than anything.

He pulled the phone out of his pocket, still no reply from Tony. He tried not to let it bother him, but that was easier said than done. Earlier he'd checked the business card twice to make sure the number was right. Then he considered emailing him but then decided that might come off as a little too eager. He'd give it a couple more days and then if nothing came from it he told himself he'd delete his number and throw the business card away. Wasn't the first time this had happened and it wouldn't be the last.  With only a little battery power left and a weak signal, he switched it off and tucked the phone back into his pocket.

He wandered over to the bookshelf to browse, only able to make out some of the titles in the dim light. A familiar title jumped out at him and he pulled it from the shelf. _Warhorses_ , it was a collection of poems about war that he owned himself for nearly five years. He started skimming through it finding ones he nearly knew by heart.

The candle light from the table flickered drawing his attention away from the book. Peggy and James were grinning at something Steve had said. James was biting his bottom lip and one side of his mouth was raised higher in what was almost a smirk. Maybe it was the light playing tricks, but Sam had to admit James had a really nice smile. He'd almost say... charming, if it weren't for everything else. Footsteps shuffled behind him and he turned to see Natasha approaching.

"Find something you like?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

He thought for one brief moment she was asking about James until he realized she must be talking about the book in his hand. "Oh... yeah Yusef Komunyakaa," he said holding the book up, "I have a worn out copy at home."

"Never heard of him, must be one of Jess'.” Natasha glanced at the book studying the title for a moment. “So it's cryptic poems about war, I'm guessing?"

"Some," he admitted with an amused look, "a little of everything melting together, as poems tend to do."

"I don't know," Natasha shook her head with a frown, "still seems cryptic to read poems about everything you’ve already lived through. Last thing I want to do is sit down and read the Jason Bourne books. Not that those bear any resemblance to the truth."

He huffed a laugh. "Well, this is more like reading a journal. Only someone said it better than you ever could."

Natasha nodded and gave him an understanding look. "Makes sense."

Sam thumbed through the book's pages again taking in the pleasant paper scent before putting it back in the empty slot. He glanced back over his shoulder to see Steve, Peggy and James were still talking. "Can I ask you something?" he asked.

“Shoot." She grinned.

“How did you even meet these two? And how come you live here instead of DC?"

"I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you,” she deadpanned.

He shrugged and quoted the pararescue creed, "These things I do, that others may live," matching her own deadpan stare.

The staring match continued for a good few seconds, but Natasha finally cracked a grin and, to Sam's surprise, actually giggled. "You're good, Sam. I like you."

He laughed in return, "Thanks, I think? No, but seriously...," he pushed once more. He was genuinely curious how people like herself or Steve, who were pleasant to be around, were so loyal to someone as sour and argumentative as James. He thought he must be missing something.

"Hmm," she considered, "Well, I met James first, in Afghanistan. Some of that actually IS classified information that I can't share with you, and some of it is not my story to tell. But let's just say he helped me out of a sticky situation and I had some information that helped him make an important decision. We worked together to make sure some very significant people didn't get hurt and it nearly was a disaster due to some general’s asshole son who thought he knew better than everyone else,” she sighed in frustration at the memory. “As for Steve, I met him at the hospital in Germany when he came to visit James after everything," she said with a wave of her hand. "We ended up getting along really well right off the bat. He's the one who introduced me to Jess actually, which is part of why I'm here instead of DC, but we can't talk about that either," she laughed.

Sam got the sense that she didn't want to or couldn't talk about what Jess did, or where she was right now so he just said, "I understand," and let it go.

Natasha's expression seemed to change with her thoughts as James passed behind her to walk into the kitchen. She looked over her shoulder then out the the back window. When she turned to back around, she wore a grin that Sam was beginning to learn to fear. "So mister," she said looping her arm around his elbow, "wanna help me with something?"

"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" he asked.

She laughed slapping his forearm playfully tugging him closer to the kitchen, "I just realized, I have a tiny problem. I left that umbrella on the table out there open and I'm worried it might blow the whole table over, or worse, get yanked out completely and crash on one of the neighbor's roofs."

He could guess where this was going. "And you want me to go out there and put it down?" he completed giving her a knowing look.

"I mean, I could obviously do it," she offered, "but I have a feeling you'd be quicker than me. Please?"

"Nat..." He heard James protest from the sink where he was filling a cup with water..

Sam looked at the table, it was only a few feet outside the back patio, it wasn’t too bad. Still, the rain was pouring down in sheets. "Set me up with a couple pieces of lasagna for the road tomorrow and you've got a deal.”

"Deal!" she beamed.

"Nat..." James said more insistently this time.

"You wanna help?" she shot over her shoulder to James.

"I have a feeling that would defeat--" James paused exhaling sharply. He shook his head at her with a disapproving frown and then finally looked at Sam. "Sam, you don't really--"

"It's fine, I've got this," Sam interrupted holding a hand up. Something about the way he was talking to Natasha irritated him and made him want to do it all that much more, if only to prove a point about how you can do nice things even if it's not something you enjoy. He pushed the back patio door open and stepped out.

He didn't hear Natasha's hushed, _Don't say I never gave you anything_ , comment to James as a gust of wind blew rain into his face and he ran out to the patio table as quick as he could.

\---

The next morning, Sam woke in his hotel room to the buzzing of his phone. He’d been more than ready to leave last night when the storm let up and the power came back on. It seemed like James only got more agitated as the night went on and Sam had finally had more than enough by the time he left. He stretched with a loud groan and then reached over to the nightstand to grab his phone and see who was texting so early.

_Sam_

_Tony here_

_It was a pleasure_

_I apologize for the delay I was on a deadline_

_I hope you arrived safely_

Sam smiled to himself sinking back into the pillows typing out his reply. _Arrived safe and sound. About to fly back to Valdosta later today._

A few seconds later Tony replied. _Hopefully it's not too bumpy. And don't join the mile high club without me ;)_

"Oh my god," Sam whispered aloud with a laugh before he replied again, heart pounding. _Don't make promises you can't keep._  He regretted it nearly as soon as he hit send. What was he doing? It's not like he'd get to see this man anytime soon.

_I wouldn't dream of it_

It was too early for this kind of blatant flirting and he had things to do. He scrubbed a hand over his tired eyes. _Hey sorry to cut this short but I’ve got to pack and run a few errands, text me later tonight?_  There, the ball was in his court now and he could get in touch or not.

 _Sure thing Have a safe flight_ ,Tony replied

Sam tossed the phone back on the nightstand and got up to get ready and pack his things. He took his things to Peggy’s room to store until his flight left later that afternoon so he could check out early and they went for breakfast at the diner across the street.

“I hate to say it Peggy, but I’ll be glad to away from here and in my own bed tonight,” Sam said as he stirred some cream into his coffee.

“Come on,” she scoffed, “it wasn’t that it wasn’t that bad.”

He licked the spoon clean setting it on a napkin to the side. “No, it wasn’t bad, but it’s no day at the beach either. Far far away from Barnes and his permanent frown.”

Peggy rolled her eyes shook her head, “Do you remember how you told me how much Riley annoyed you when you first met at Lackland?”

“This isn’t the same thing.”

“Okay, but all I’m saying is you have a habit of making snap judgements about people sometimes.” Peggy said.

“It’s not a snap judgement. I’ve tried to give him time to warm up or whatever, but the man is permanently in a bad mood, he can’t help but make sure everyone knows his opinion and if someone asks him to do something nice that he doesn’t like he gets short with them.” Sam explained.

“I think you’re exaggerating a bit. Natasha and James have a kind of antagonizing friendship, she likes to tease him and he’s not actually mad at her. Do you think Natasha would honestly let someone disrespect her?” Peggy asked.

“I don’t know, maybe, she seems to have a kind of loyalty to him because of something they went through in Afghanistan.”

“Please, Sam, you’re not serious. Natasha would kick your ass if she heard you say that and you know it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed. “Look, I think Natasha and Steve a great, I just don’t like Barnes, there’s something about him that just makes me irritated.”

The waitress brought their orders shortly after and as Peggy was unwrapping her utensils from the napkin she glanced out the window and her eyes went wide. “Oh no,” she said sounding alarmed.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Sitwell,” she frowned hunching down in her seat a little, nodding at the door. The bell jingled as it was pushed open.

“Great. Just great. What’s he doing here?”

Peggy shrugged a shoulder. “I have no idea.”

“Hopefully he doesn’t see us,” Sam said taking a bite of his food.

Peggy made the mistake of looking back towards the door where he stood waiting to be seated. “Too late,” she said as her hand shot up to return a wave and a very fake smile.

Sitwell apparently thought her wave was an invitation and walked over to the booth, sat next to Sam and ordered some coffee from the server. “Well it’s a small world after all huh?” Sitwell smiled as he glanced over a menu.

 _Yeah_ , Sam thought, _too small_. He really was going to be glad to be back home tonight.

Sitwell babbled on through breakfast about his work, how important record keeping was and that he was glad to part of such a monumental task. Peggy indulged his conversation leaving Sam trapped in the booth with no escape. When Sam could take no more he shot Peggy warning glare and she nearly choked on her coffee.

“Well Jasper,” Peggy said, “I think we should be going soon, Sam has to get his things together before his flight this afternoon.”

“Oh, of course! Don’t let me hold you up. It’s been such a pleasure to see you both again,” he stood and finally let Sam out of the booth. “Please send Riley my best wishes.”

Peggy nodded, “Of course.”

Outside Sam said, “If he patted himself on the back any more he’d leave handprints.”

“Sam!” Peggy laughed looking mildly offended.

“It’s true,” he grumbled.

\---

Peggy drove Sam to the base security a little before 2:00 pm. They’d arranged a direct flight from Ft. Benning to Moody Air Force Base on a cargo plane transferring supplies. Colonel Fury had approved the arrangement to get Sam onboard and all he needed now was for Fury to sign off on his transfer papers. Steve had arranged to meet him at security at 2:00 to escort him, since he was considered only a guest at this time.

Unfortunately, it was Barnes who showed up and because the universe was conspiring against his entire day, Sitwell followed directly behind him. Sam looked across to Peggy in the driver’s seat and fixed her with a hard stare, “Did you plan this?”

She bit her bottom lip hard trying to hold back a laugh. “I swear,” she cleared her throat still trying not to laugh, “I had nothing to do with this. Steve said he’d be here.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“I swear,” she laughed finally, “and how would I even know about Sitwell?” She glanced back towards the security booth and more laughter bubbled out of her. “You have to admit it is funny.”

“Hilarious,” he said flatly. He pulled the car door open and grabbed his bag out of the back seat. “Take care of my car. Call me when you’re on your way back Sunday.”

“I will,” she agreed. “Safe flight, call me when you get in and be nice!” she warned.

“I’m always nice.” He smiled and shut the door waving as she drove off.

He was patted down first thing and handed his bag over to the guard to be inspected. He started to sign in and felt someone’s eyes on him. As he looked up he saw Barnes waiting there, watching, staring with his hard blue eyes. “Hey,” Sam said and looked back down to dot the  _ **i**_  in his name. “Thought Steve was coming.”

“Steve had something come up this afternoon and asked me to escort you to Colonel Fury’s then down to the airfield,” James explained.

Sam nodded grabbing his duffle bag from the guard and shifted it over his shoulder.

“I can take your bag if you’d like,” James offered.

“I’ve got it sergeant,” said Sam.

James gave him cursory nod and stepped out of the booth. He approached Sitwell saying, “Specialist Sitwell this is my guest, Sr. Airman Sam Wilson, I believe you are acquainted already, however please be sure to show him the same respect you have shown me.”

“Yes sir, of course,” Sitwell nodded. “I was just telling the sergeant here about our chance meeting at breakfast this morning,” he smiled. “I--”

“How long are you here for?” Sam asked breaking whatever Sitwell was getting ready to start rambling about.

“Oh, we’ve been here for 3 weeks already, now we’re splitting up in teams to evaluate the major instructors courses, so 5 more weeks for me here with the sniper instructors. Of course it could be longer than that if…”

Sam tuned him out giving nods and an occasional, “oh really?” as Sitwell looked to him for a reaction. He noticed the way Barnes shoulders tensed and the muscle in his jaw clenched mirroring his own irritation from earlier and couldn’t help but smile to himself. Maybe Sitwell was good for something after all. Even still, he wasn’t convinced that anyone deserved five straight weeks of Jasper Sitwell chewing their ear off.

When they reached Colonel Fury’s office Barnes checked him in with Fury’s secretary and they waited while Sam went in to meet with him. He knocked on the open door and resisted the urge to salute since he was wearing his civilian clothes.

“Come in, have a seat,” Fury’s voice commanded as he looked over the rim of his reading glasses.

“Thank you, Colonel Fury, sir.”

Fury rifled through his desk, pulled out a pen and and stamp from one of the drawers. “Sam Wilson, I’ve heard some very good things about you and your unit. Saved over 100 military and civilian lives on your last tour?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Colonel James Rhodes tells me you were a leading contender to be a combat pilot but chose to go for pararescue instead. Don’t hear that happen too often.”

“No, sir,” Sam agreed. The amount of information Fury had on him probably should’ve worried him but for whatever reason he felt the questioning was mostly general curiosity.

“Apparently, even Sitwell has spoken quite highly of you, and I’m sure we both know Sitwell doesn’t talk about anyone but himself most of the time.”

Sam huffed to contain a laugh, “Yes, sir, got an earful this morning at breakfast and then again on my way up here.”

Fury didn’t quite smile, but glanced at him with look of amusement anyway. He signed the  three-piece slip of paper and stamped it tearing the back copy off for himself and handing the other two still attached to Sam. “Tell Barnes to send Sitwell in before you head to the airfield. Tell him he can collect him on his way back from the airfield, might as well give you a bit peace and quiet before you leave.”

Sam smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

\---

Sam followed James to a jeep as they headed back out. “Need anything from commissary before we go down to the airfield?” James asked.

“Nope, all set.” Sam said thumping his duffle bag before tossing it in the back of the Jeep.

“Sorry your trip to the beach got ruined,” James said as he started the vehicle.

 _Me too_ , Sam thought, but instead said, “Yeah, well, it’s not your fault. That’s one thing I can’t exactly blame you for.”

James looked over to him from the corner of his eye with a small hint of a smile he opened his mouth as if to say something but shut it apparently deciding against it. Probably for the best.

They rode in silence after that for the 10 minute drive down to the airfield. Sam couldn’t help but appreciate the view of the mountains from the car. He wondered for a moment what it looked like when the leaves turned bright colors in the autumn and the thought made him oddly homesick for New York. He hadn’t seen his sister or niece in almost a year and hoped he’d be able to make it back there for Christmas this year.

James pulled the jeep to a slow stop and yanked the emergency brake in place once the car was off. He walked Sam over to the young boy checking rosters and registers explaining Sam’s special circumstances to board a cargo plane headed for Valdosta.

Sam was sure the kid couldn’t have been any older than 19 and the thought made him a little sad. He handed his transfer slip over and he scanned it checking the details, signed it and tore the two copies apart handing him the blue one. He directed them to where the plane was being loaded and James lead the way.

As they got closer James placed his left hand on Sam’s elbow to get his attention. “Wait here, I’ll go check they’re ready.”

The fingers were cold and firm against the bare skin of his elbow, it took him by surprise and he almost jerked away at the unfamiliar feeling. They were the fingers of James’ cybernetic arm that Sam had almost forgotten about completely.

James recoiled his hand away the moment Sam looked down to his own elbow in confusion. He placed his hand firmly to the side of his leg. “Sorry,” he said meeting Sam’s eyes for only a split second and looking away.

Sam wanted to tell him there was nothing to be sorry for, not for that at least, but before the words came out James was already off jogging towards a woman who had a clipboard in her hand directing two other soldiers. After a moment James waved him over and showed his paperwork to the woman in charge, she looked it over nodding and handed it back to him.

“We’ll be off in about half an hour,” she said, “but find yourself a seat between any of the boxes already loaded in the back. Just don’t sit on the boxes of condiments or you may have one hell of a mess to clean up.”

Sam laughed and nodded, “No condiments, got it.” He shifted the bag on his shoulder again.

“Well this is it I guess,” said James. “I hope you have a good flight. It was nice seeing you again.”

James suddenly had a look on his face that Sam couldn’t quite read, almost nervous he would have guessed, but that couldn’t be right. James stuck his right hand out, his left still straight against his leg, in an offer to shake it and Sam did. “Thanks, take care” he muttered letting go and offering a smile before clenching the strap of his bag.

James’ looked almost like he was about to say something else, but he just nodded instead and turned on a heel heading back to where he’d parked the Jeep. And for no reason he could explain, Sam watched him walk away until he couldn’t see him anymore. James did not look back even once.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Click here to read the chilling poem "Grenade" by Yusef Komunyakaa](https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/callaloo/v027/27.2komunyakaa01.html)
> 
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> [Click here to listen to Yusef Komunyakaa reading the poem "Grenade"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ-G_1WbYoE)
> 
>  
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> TW for gore and typical war violence mention in the poem.


	9. Taking Leave

James had always been good at school, but no one subject ever caught his interest. When he went to college he chose to major in business, figuring that was the safest bet. It wasn’t until he joined the army that he found what he thought was his calling. Being a sniper had been the first thing he’d ever truly excelled at. Having Steve by his side each step of the way only motivated him more. It wasn’t until they were deployed to different locations that all the cracks of the military system began to show and doubts began to settle in. Doubts that eventually lead to him uncover the plots of a trusted army general and risk his life and career in the process.

Everyone, including Steve, had been surprised when he’d made it his goal to re-enlist after getting through the first round of recovery. Truth was, James didn’t know what else to do besides be a sniper and he wanted more than anything to prove a point to men still trying to cover up what had happened. Those three years of rehab, recovery, court appearances, testimonies, blatant lies, and having his name pulled through the mud were the strongest test of his character he’d ever known.

After his name was cleared and he passed the physical requirements, he was approved to return to duty. The transfer to Ft.Benning felt like a fresh start. For the first few months he was assigned to ammunition stock control. It was a tedious job, but he felt useful for the first time in a long time. So, when Fury pulled him off the job and assigned him to be an instructor, it had been a blow to his ego. All he could think of was that old proverb: _Those who can, do; those who can't, teach._ He’d flat out refused saying he was better than some washed up instructor.  Fury only fixed him with a hard look and said, “It’s not a request.”

He’d been wrong, Fury had been right, James could admit that now as his third course was starting. The job filled him with a renewed sense of purpose. He pushed each and every single trainee as hard as he could and tried to weed out those who were only there for some misplaced sense of glory.

"Look around you," James said to the trainees lined up outside their dorms, "over half of you won't make the cut. I see it every single time. It's not enough to have great marksmanship. The fact you were even invited here is proof enough you can shoot. There is absolutely no room for bravado. If you want that, then I suggest you become a drill sergeant instead. Help each other, be respectful. Be honored you have made it this far, this is not a competition with anyone but yourself. To excel as a sniper you need to think on your feet at lightning speeds all while staying invisible. More importantly, you need to know when have patience. Lack of patience is by far the most common reason people fail this course. You rush, you make mistakes, you get caught. I want you to prove me wrong. Earn your sniper tab."

By the end of the second week, a few standouts had started to shine through, Kate Bishop among them, much to Ward's chagrin. Still, James didn't bother to rub it in, because he knew better than most that the balance could change just as quickly once they got to the must-pass portion of the course in the fourth and fifth weeks.

\---

“Another one?” Steve whined as James snagged the remote and flipped the tv to yet another reality tv cooking competition. The third one this week.

“It’s only an hour,” James said, “let me have this indulgence if I can’t actually have decent food right now.” He blamed the long exhausting days and bland food at the chow hall, especially midnight chow when the only thing left to eat were stale leftovers.

Steve allowed it grabbing his phone of the couch arm rest to browse the internet and text with Peggy.

James’ mouth watered over the grilled tuna dish his favorite contestant was was making and he promised himself after these five weeks were done he’d drive into Columbus for a good meal.

"I'm taking a few days leave the weekend of Halloween," Steve said during a commercial break. "Going down to Valdosta if you wanna come."

"Why on earth would I wanna third wheel with you?" James laughed.

"You wouldn't be third wheeling. Sam and Riley are down there too, in case you forgot." Steve explained.

James definitely had not forgotten and tried to ignore the familiar flare of want in his gut at the mention of Sam's name.

"Besides," Steve continued, "Peggy was the one who told me to invite you. Come down, go to a party or two, have a good time. It's not like we're asking you to share our room or anything."

James chuckled at the thought. Despite the very tempting urge to say yes, to go and use it as an excuse to see Sam he knew he couldn't. "Eh, better not. I promised Becky I'd do everything I could to get home for Christmas and New Years. I need to save up the rest of my time so I won't go in the hole."

"Yeah, alright, I understand. How is Becky anyway?"

"Doing great, last I heard. She's at our grandparents in The Hamptons until the winter semester starts in January. She texts me photos of the beach, paintings she's doing and says she's playing at a piano bar a few nights a week for some extra money while she's up there."

"I still can't believe she got into Julliard," Steve said.

"Yeah," James said with a soft smile, "I'm really proud of her."

He still remembered the first time his parents sat her down next to him on the piano bench when he was only ten years old. He played her a part of a very simple Mozart melody he'd learned. When he looked down to her baby carrier her large brown eyes were fixed on him, she cooed waving her arms around happily and beamed a wide smile at him. It became their routine, he played something for her every day trying out new songs as he learned them and she would watch and sway her head, feet and legs. Her favorite was always the very first song though. Sadly, he never had the drive to play more than the few songs he learned from lessons, but as soon as she was old enough to start playing on her own she surpassed him within a short number of years. No matter how good she got though, she would still drag him to the piano for duets at holidays, parties, or anytime he was home on leave.

He regretted sometimes that he wasn't always there while she grew up, first when he went to college and then especially after their parents died, but that was half the reason he joined the army in the first place. Even now, it had been nearly a year since the last time he'd seen her, just after finishing a third round of grueling physical therapy. It hadn't been his most shining moment.

He flexed his fingers, habitually testing his motor skills. He wondered what Becky would say next time she saw him. He wondered if she'd ask to play a duet or, more importantly, if he’d even be able to with this new hand.

\---

Halloween came, and soldiers on base were allowed to dress in costume for the day. James took the opportunity to dress up as Robocop much to everyone's amusement. Colonel Fury even joined in the fun and dressed as a pirate, complete with a patch over the eye he was partially blind in. The children of families living on and around the base swarmed door to door to collect more candy than their parents would ever know what to do with. James ran out of candy after only two hours.

He considered going to the party down at the chow hall with a few of the other instructors but decided instead to call it an early night pulling a book off the shelf and flipping through it's worn pages. His phone chimed a text alert twice as he was settling in. A message sent from Peggy to both him and Natasha read, Missing a witch and a tin man!

Attached was a photo of Peggy dressed as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, next to her Steve dressed in a ridiculous looking dog costume, Sam dressed as a lion with his head tilted back in a laugh and Riley a scarecrow.

would I be a good witch or a bad witch ;) , Natasha replied.

 _Your choice of course, but the shoes are mine!_ Peggy answered.

_Over my dead body! ... oh wait... :p_

James laughed out loud at that. Sometimes Natasha's sense of humor could be so cryptic and yet childish, and he loved her for it. Finally he replied, _Hey as of my last checkup I still had a heart_

_Aww James you know we <3 you, Peggy replied. Happy Halloween my lovelies! I've got a cute puppy to go rescue._

After a moment of silence a reply from Natasha chimed in a separate message only to him. _you know you're right you'd have to have some "courage" first before you can lose your heart ;)_

 

It didn't take a whole lot for him to work out her double meaning.

_very clever yoda_

_you know it's not that simple_

Natasha took a while to reply, but this time she was more serious, _you're right, but nothing ever is and i've never seen you give up before, don't start now_

 

James stared at the message for a while, but decided he didn't want to think about it anymore, so he turned his phone into sleep mode and didn't reply.

\---

To her credit, Natasha didn't bother him about it again and things went back to normal when Steve returned. James went back to regular work days since another sniper class wouldn't start until mid January. They all settled back into a routine over the following weeks. Coffee, breakfast, work, lunch, work, home, dinner, repeat. On the few nights James hogged the remote for an uninterrupted hour of _Top Chef_ or _Master Chef_ or _Iron Chef_ , Steve would hop online to chat with Peggy. It was almost boring.

So, the day James walked through the door to find Steve pacing in the living room with his phone pressed to his ear he knew something was wrong right away. Steve never paced.

"Peggy, I know it's not fair but--" he stopped short, his voice tense, almost angry in a way James rarely ever heard him. Steve scrubbed a hand through the back of his hair.

James stood confused for a moment. Steve had been so absorbed in the call that James was positive he'd not even heard him come in.

"Of course you deserve this -- no, thats not -- I just wish-" Steve exhaled a frustrated sigh and stopped in his tracks when he finally spotted James by the door.

James couldn’t get a read on his face before Steve returned to pacing the living room. He’d never heard them fight before and felt almost as if he was intruding on something too private to listen to. He clicked the door shut and hurried to his room to change out of his uniform.

When James came back out into the living room Steve sat hunched over on the couch with his head in his hands. Before James could even ask what was wrong, Steve said, "How do you..." he paused taking a deep breath, voice strained, "How do you do the right thing when it feels wrong, Buck?"

"What happened?" James finally asked.

"Peggy got offered a position, it's a great opportunity for her, I know that," he said like he was still trying to convince himself, "but... it's at Mildenhall."

"Mildenhall… London? Wait, when?" he asked trying to wrap his head around what was going on.

"January," said Steve sounding deflated, "I know I can't ask her to stay. I know it's not right, but..."

James frowned. He wasn't sure what to say. "There's still email and skype, like you've been doing now," he suggested.

"Yeah I know, but it's not the same with the time difference and all the distance. And who knows how long she'll be there. Her father’s there, other family too. She wants to go. I don't blame her, I just don't know what's going to happen with us..."

"I’m sorry," James said. "Look, maybe give it a few days. I'm sure things will look better and you’ll figure something out. We’ve both seen other couples do this before."

That night as James lay in bed he thought about how he should’ve seen this coming. When Steve likes someone he puts it all out there and he’d thought Peggy was on the same page, but for the first time, James began to doubt how true that really was.

\---

A cold front swept in the week of Thanksgiving. Steve and Peggy agreed to take things a day at a time but James saw the way Steve had become more distracted over the weeks, he worried more about little things and wasn’t sleeping well.

Natasha and Jess made dinner and invited them over for a small get together since neither of them were going home until Christmas. Peggy had planned on driving up, but someone on base took emergency leave and she ended up having to fill in at the last minute.

“How’s he doing?” Natasha asked as Jess and Steve played a game of pool.

James grimaced. “He’s been miserable the last couple days, though he won’t it admit it.”

Natasha sighed and worried her bottom lip. “Damn,” she said frowning in Jess’s direction.

“What?” James asked.

For a moment Natasha didn’t answer, tapping her fingers idly on the countertop. “I have news, good and bad, depending how you look at it.” Her mouth turned up as she met his stare.

He eyed her cautiously. “What is it?”

She glanced over across the room and then leaned in closer to his ear. “Jess and I are moving to New York.”

“Shit,” James gave a disbelieving laugh. He grabbed the bottle of wine, unwrapped the seal and pulled the cork out with ease. “When?”

“Next month.”

“Shit,” he repeated and passed the bottle over to her. She took a swig as he grabbed the glasses out of the cabinet. “Better just pull the band-aid off now. Can’t get any worse,” he said and knocked superstitiously on the wood cabinets.

Steve took the news better than they’d thought and he promised he and James would help her move things on their drive to New York for Christmas as well.

\---

The next week as James was sitting on the living room floor with a pile of potential sniper school candidate records spread out all over the floor and coffee table when Steve swung the front door open.

“I’ve got a plan!” he announced.

“For?” James asked.

“Getting to London,” he said as if it should’ve already been obvious. “I’m going to ask her to marry me!” Steve beamed.

James was left speechless for a moment, positive he’d misheard him. “You’re... what?”

“I’m going to ask her to marry me. I’m positive she’ll say yes and then we can request joint spouse placement. It's the most simple solution.”

“Steve,” stood quickly holding his hands up, “I -- you’re not being rational here. You two have only been seeing each other for four months and not even consistently.”

The smile on Steve’s face faded. “I love her and I’m positive I will never meet anyone like her again. People marry for a lot less."

"Steve, this is not healthy and you're not thinking this through at all. There's no guarantee you'll be placed in London, in fact, since you don't get the choice you should know it's more likely she'll be transferred back here. Not to mention, she was the one who decided to take the job, leave you here without even asking you about it first. Clearly she's not as attached to whatever this thing is between you two is."

Steve's eyes hardened. "It's not like she planned this," Steve snapped, "it was something that came up."

"You're right, and she didn't even hesitate, what's that tell you?" The words came out harsher and more angry than he'd intended.

Steve face fell in disbelief, disappointment written all over his face.

He'd stepped over a line and knew it. "I... I'm sorry," said James, "I didn't mean that... don't get me wrong, you and Peggy are great together, when you're together. And I know you love her, but, you shouldn't jump out of a plane without a parachute. Don't rush into anything this big Steve, people will only get hurt." And that person was Steve if James knew any better.

Steve frowned and sighed. "You're right, I know you're right. Thanks Buck."

James tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it felt wrong so instead he walked over and hugged him. "Just talk to her punk. No matter what happens you'll be fine," he said patting him on the back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-worked this chapter twice before I finally called in reinforcements for help. Thank you you so much to the lovely [mergatrude](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mergatrude) for betaing this chapter after I sent a random call for help. <3
> 
> \---
> 
> P.S. The song James plays for Becky is Mozart Piano Concerto No. 26 (2 Larghettto) [[listen here](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=llRpSkA5Sys)]
> 
> True story, I picked this song at random from a list of classical songs to play for babies that I found on youtube. After figuring out which movement of the concerto it was, I googled it and knew instantly that this particular movement was the perfect choice. Not only because of it's soft/simple lullaby, but also: "large stretches of the solo part simply have nothing at all for the left hand, including ... the whole of the second movement." [[x](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._26_\(Mozart\)#The_unfinished_piano_part)] Making it a song Bucky can still easily play even today. :)


	10. An Unfortunate Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick warning that there are two brief mentions of a spider Jess and Natasha own in this chapter. Once in the beginning and again while everyone is out to dinner.
> 
> I apologize yet again for the delay. This chapter (and the one to follow) have been outlined for nearly a month but work and personal stuff have kept me busy the past 2 weeks. That said, the next chapter should be up in just a few days since it was all originally going to be one big chapter! So keep an eye out for that!

As Sam waited to board his plane to New York City, Peggy had kept him entertained with updates from Natasha's as they packed up the last of their things. She'd sent a photo with her, Natasha and Jess drinking margaritas claiming they were _moving margaritas_.

_Wouldn't those be more appropriate after you're done?_

_ Nope Steve and James have the rest covered _

_See!_ She sent a photo of Steve carrying two boxes pulling a smile, but it looked much more forced than his usual easy-going smile there was almost a hint of sadness in his face, Sam thought. Behind Steve in the background Natasha was attempting to knock James' ball cap off. He was laughing swatting her hand away and Sam thought it might have been the first time he'd actually seen him look truly amused by anything other than instigating an argument.

The news of Peggy taking a new assignment had come as a surprise to Sam as much as anyone, he knew she’d been trying to get to London for nearly a year, but with it happening so quickly even he wasn't quite prepared to say goodbye to one of his best friends in only a few weeks.

\---

Sam had only packed one bag's worth of clothes and had just told his sister Sarah to pick him up curbside, so he wasn't expecting his niece's near tackle hug as he came out the sliding doors. "Whoa! Hey Jody!" Sam huffed trying to catch his feet and wrapped his arms around her.

She laughed and pulled back patting his bicep. "Dang, your arms are huge!"

He laughed and asked, "Where's your mom?"

"In the car, she let me wait here while she circled, she should be back around in a minute."

"Look at you, I can't believe you're almost as tall as me now," he said finally getting a good look at her. She was tall and strong, her brown hair hung in tight curls slightly past her shoulders. "How's swimming going?"

"Good! We start conditioning next month."

"Did your mom let you get your license yet?"

"Ha! No," she pulled an unimpressed face, "I wish. She was like, what do you need a license for here? My friend America said she'd show me this spring though."

The thought of someone the same age as her teaching Jody to drive made Sam feel uneasy.  "What if I teach you?" he offered.

Her eyes lit up. "Really?!" she squealed hugging him again.

"We can have a couple lessons while I'm here for the next two weeks, and then you can come down to visit me next spring or summer if I'm not deployed and we'll get you on some open roads for some real driving."

"That would be awesome! Can we drive to Atlanta?"

"I was thinking we could try for the beach in Savannah since my vacation was pretty much ruined this year."

"Ooh yeah, that's even better!" She clapped her hands and bounced up and down. "We could have a beach party! Can I bring a friend? You should tell Riley to come too!"

He laughed, "Well, I don't know about that, but we'll work everything out over the next few months okay?"

"You gotta be the one to tell mom though," she said more seriously.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it," he winked.

"There's mom now," she pointed to the familiar blue and white Camaro pulling up. It was a car their dad had restored years ago and given to Sarah as college graduation present.

\---

That night after getting his things settled into the spare room of his sister's place he took the subway to meet everyone at Jess and Natasha's new place in the Upper East Side.

He let out a low whistle as Natasha let him in. Their condo was small but had an open floor plan and had a great view of Central Park. "I need to get me a job with CIA if they're putting you up in a place like this," he said starting to take off his jacket tossing it beside a stack of boxes.

"Didn't Peggy tell you? CIA didn't do this for us. We were supposed to be moving to Brooklyn, but it turns out Peggy put in a good word with Pepper Potts for us and she pulled some strings to get us this place last minute. I still can't believe it."

"Wow, no. She didn't say anything to me." He wondered when Peggy haddone that. "Where is everyone by the way?"

"They went to return the the moving truck and stop to pick up some paper plates, utensils, alcohol. You know, essentials to survive the next few weeks if I can't find the pots and pans."

"Ah, right," he smiled wandering over to the window to look down at Central Park. Next to him inside a glass tank a giant tarantula skittered across a branch. "Jesus! I thought that was an empty fish tank!"

Natasha laughed out loud. "Don't worry, Lady Rushman won't hurt you. Wanna hold her?"

"No, I definitely do not," Sam said taking a few wide steps to the side and Natasha laughed again.

\---

When everyone got back the mood was noticeably tense. Peggy looked relieved to see him as she came in and hugged him tighter than normal. Natasha introduced Jess to Sam and he found her to be very sharp like Natasha. Steve was trying to be his usual easy going self, but it seemed he was putting a lot of effort into it and James for his part was unusually quiet. Sam didn't know if he should be worried about that or thankful.

After helping haul more boxes with blankets and clothes up from the storage area, putting the bed together and moving some of the larger furniture around they decided to head out for dinner. Jess had found a sushi place she wanted to try online even though it wasn’t exactly close to their condo.

"So Sam,” Jess said as the waiter was  setting down their first plates of sushi rolls, "Natasha tells me your sister and niece live in Harlem?"

"Yeah, I'm staying with them this week," he said pulling a piece from one of the plates in the middle of the large round table they sat at.

Jess nodded, seemingly very interested. "What's she do?"

"She's a doctor at Harlem Hospital."

"Medicine must run in the family," she smiled.

"Well, not quite. My dad was a pastor and my mom was in social work, which is what I originally was going to school for," he explained.

"So how'd you end up in Pararescue then?"

"Oh, it's a long story," he said when everyone’s eyes turned to him. He didn't really want to get into the details and he certainly didn't want all the attention right now. Trying to shift the conversation in another direction, he asked, "How'd you get into the CIA?"

"Colonel Fury put me in touch with Nat when I left the Army a few years ago, and the rest is history," Jess grinned nudging Natasha's shoulder. "Oh! I almost forgot," she blurted out pointing a chop stick at them all, "New Years Eve, don't make plans, you're all coming out with us."

Sam looked to Peggy who shrugged and shook her head not knowing what Jess was talking about. In fact, everyone but Natasha looked a little confused as well.

James started to protest, "I don't..."

"Hush," Natasha interrupted, "you're coming if I have to drag you there myself."

James sulked, but didn't protest anymore and Sam wondered if Natasha could teach him that skill if these dinners were going to become routine over the next two weeks.

"We've got reservations for a small private party at _Thor_ with the owner's son and fiancé. Jane Foster and Thor Odinson," Jess explained.

Steve who had been abnormally quiet for a while huffed a laugh, "The owner named the hotel after his son?"

"Kinda," Jess giggled.

"Actually it's even more convoluted than that," Natasha explained. "The actual hotel name is The Hotel on Rivington. The bar in it is called _Thor_ for short. So it's possible he bought the place on Rivington just so he could call his hotel _Thor_!"

Everyone laughed and Peggy shook her head, "No, that can't be true. It has to be a coincidence."

"Well, I met his dad once and he's a bit..." Jess waved a hand searching for the right word, "brash or outlandish maybe," she decided. "Thor and Jane are nothing like that though. They spend most the year in London which is especially why I thought Peggy should meet them."

Sam spared a glance at Steve out of the corner of his eye, he was picking at his food for a moment like it was the most interesting thing in the room.

The amusement drained out of Peggy's face as she glanced nervously at Steve then Sam, but forced another smile and nodded. "Yes, that would be nice," she agreed. "Our friend Riley will be coming into town next week, would it be okay if he comes?"

"Yeah sure no problem, Jane told me to bring whoever I wanted. I think you'll really like her Peggy, she's a brilliant astrophysicist."

The rest of dinner went fairly smoothly and Steve seemed to relax after they'd all had a couple drinks. Even James refrained from starting any debates for once.

As dinner wound up Natasha decided everyone needed to know about Sam's encounter with the spider. "I swear he jumped like four feet, it was the most hilarious thing!"

Peggy giggled and patted Sam's arm sympathetically.

Sam shrugged. "I'm not ashamed, that thing is creepy."

"Lady Rushman is not creepy," Jess scoffed.

"No, Sam's right," James said with a nod towards Sam, "it's pretty creepy."

Miracle of miracles, they agreed on something for once. James' eyes met his and he smiled warmly before turning to Steve. Sam had no idea what to make of that.

"Steve agrees," James said, "don't you Steve?"

"Oh no, I'm not getting in on this one." Steve said raising his hands up. "I'm not about to gang up on two CIA agents who own a spider when any of the three could possibly kill me in my sleep."

Everyone laughed then and Sam almost regretted he was going to have to leave soon since he'd planned to meet Tony for drinks tonight. He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time and saw a missed text from Tony.

_We still on for drinks at 10 love?_

He'd sent it about half an hour ago, it was about 9:30 now. Sam excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom so he could reply without feeling rude.

_ Yes definitely. I'm at dinner with some friends, sorry must not have heard my phone and just got this. Where do you want to meet? _

Tony replied almost immediately. _I could meet you where you are now, where are you having dinner?_

_A sushi place in the West Village called Amber_

_ I know just the place, I'm not far from there, I can meet you there in about 20 minutes and we can walk from there. _

_ Sounds great, he confirmed. _

Sam stuffed his phone back into his pocket and headed back toward the table running square into a solid mass of someone's body as he rounded the hall from the bathroom back to the dining area. Hands reached out to grip his arms to keep him from falling swiftly to the floor. When Sam looked up he saw it was James. James who had a firm grip on his arms and was smirking at him.

Sam was sure James was about to make some smart ass comment, so he stepped back and excused himself. "Sorry wasn't paying attention."

James dropped his hands slowly not moving from his spot. "Everyone's about ready to leave out there."

Sam's stomach did a weird lurch and he was uncomfortably aware of how small the hallway really was. He'd never noticed before how much room James took up or just how tall he was either. He side stepped out of the way around him and James finally moved as well to let him pass.

The uneasy feeling didn't pass when he was clear of the hallway and so he assumed it was nerves about meeting with Tony that were getting the best of him.

Peggy gave him an odd look when he returned and asked, "You alright?"

"Yeah fine," he said grabbing his coat from the back of the chair as everyone else was collecting their things. "I'm just going to wait at the bar since Tony's meeting me shortly."

"Tony Stark?" Natasha asked.

"What? No. Why would I be having drinks with Tony Stark?"

"I was thinking because Peggy is friends with Pepper that you knew him." Natasha explained.

"Oh," Sam laughed. "No, thank God. I only met him the once at the ball earlier this year," he said. "Once was more than enough."

Peggy snorted indignantly and nodded. "He is a bit... eccentric," she agreed. "He's not so bad when he's around Pepper though."

"So you're not coming back with us?" Jess asked nearly pouting.

"Afraid not," Sam said. "I'm just gonna wait here at the bar, soon as he gets here we're walking over to some place in Little Italy."

Jess sighed heavily. "Suit yourself," she said giving Natasha an odd look and Natasha just shrugged.

Steve and Natasha thanked him for his help and Peggy told him to text her when he got in for the night. As everyone filed out he pulled out his phone and started to text Tony to let him know he'd be waiting at the bar instead.

"Incoming," James said breaking Sam's attention giving him that odd smirk again as he lifted his coat off the chair.

"Huh?" Sam asked looking up from his phone. "Oh, yeah, sorry about that again."

James shrugged. "Coming?" he asked motioning to the door.

"Oh, no, I'm meeting someone in a few minutes," Sam explained. "Everyone else is waiting outside though."

"Right, of course," James fidgeted with the collar of the coat still in his hands, "thanks for helping today then."

"Yeah, sure no problem," Sam nodded.

"See you around, Sam." James smiled ruefully before turning away.

Sam tried to ignore that weird uneasy feeling again. He wished for a moment that he could just wipe the slate clean with James. Tonight hadn't been so bad. Maybe they could be friends after all, but with Peggy leaving so soon it didn't seem likely any of them would see each other much after January. As he watched him slip his coat on, he noticed something fall from James' pocket.  

“Hey James,” he called out bending down to pick the object up, it was a phone.

James turned with a surprised look, almost expectant.

“You dropped this,” Sam said handing the phone out to him.

Confusion flashed across his face as he looked at Sam’s outstretched hand. “Oh,” he said with a sheepish smile. “Thanks.” He grabbed the phone turning it over in his hands like he had to check to make sure it really was his and huffed a laugh at himself before sliding it in his back jeans pocket. “Listen, Sam…” But he trailed off as his eyes snapped over Sam’s shoulder and he visibly tensed standing nearly at attention.

“There you are darling,” Tony’s boisterous voice came from behind. “I got here a bit early. I saw your friend Peggy just outside and she told me you were waiting at the bar, but here you are instead, you flirt,” he said grinning placing a light hand to his back.

Sam glanced back at Tony with a half-hearted smile, too distracted by the overwhelming sense of tension radiating off of James.

“Excuse me,” James said tersely and nodded at Sam turning on his heel quickly leaving.

It reminded him so much of the very first time he’d met James. Sam hadn’t realized just how relaxed James gotten recently until that cold hard wall came flying back up. He watched James pull his collar up around his neck and stuff his hands into his coat pockets before pushing the door open outside breezing past Peggy, Steve, Natasha and Jess who were standing outside the front window. They scrambled to catch up with him and were out of sight after only a moment.

“Miserable git.” Tony muttered over Sam’s shoulder breaking his concentration. “What was he doing here anyway?”

“We had dinner,” Sam explained, “with friends. Mutual friends. He’s a friend of a friend.” Though that felt oddly insincere now. “What was that all about?”

“As if he needs an excuse to be miserable,” Tony quipped. “Come on, let’s walk over to Little Italy. I know a guy who makes the best cannolis in the city.”

Sam frowned as he followed him out the door. He knew Tony wasn’t telling him everything. “So, he resented you being embedded with his unit? Seems a long time to hold a grudge,” Sam prompted.

“Oh, it’s more than that,” Tony huffed, “he partly blames me for that mission going south, it’s why he tried to have me fired saying I endangered his unit and national security. Even though I might point out he was the one on trial for those things and not me.”

Sam shook his head. “But his name was cleared,” he pointed out. “In fact, he was given the medal of honor for what he did, you know that.”

“Yes,” Tony agreed, “rightly so, of course. I only wish that he didn’t still blame me for something that was well out of my control and resented me for trying to tell his story, which was my job after all. Anyway, it’s all in the past now, I’d rather not think of him when I’m in considerably better company,” he said raising a playful eyebrow and pressing a firm hand to his back again.

Sam’s heart thudded at the warm contact of his hand and he smiled, he couldn’t help but appreciate Tony’s flattery and couldn’t remember why he’d felt so uneasy earlier. Tony had a way of putting him at ease, and he was okay with dropping the topic of James in exchange for the easy conversation or contented silence that Tony offered.

After a couple glasses of wine and a fresh cannoli that was every bit as good as Tony had claimed it would be, Sam felt relaxed and warm despite the cold temperatures outside. It didn’t hurt that the tall lanky man beside him had an arm wrapped around his waist pressing in close as they walked side by side.

“Come back to my place?” Tony whispered, the soft blond curls of his hair brushing Sam’s ear from leaning in so close.

An electric surge of desire shot all through Sam, it had been a long time, he was so very tempted and let out a frustrated sigh. “Can’t tonight. I promised Sarah I’d help her with some things while my niece is at school tomorrow.”

“I can kick you out early if that’s the case,” Tony said stopping to face Sam now, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Sam laughed closing his eyes at the huff of warm breath on his cheek from Tony leaning in to press his mouth onto his. “Mmm tempting,” he said as Tony pulled back to look at him again.

Tony rolled his eyes with a playful smile. “Alright, next time then,” he relented and licked his lips.

Sam nodded, still a little dazed and half considering changing his mind even now. He sighed shaking his head clear, suddenly remembering, “Hey what are you doing New Years Eve?”

“Is that an invitation?” Tony smirked.

“Uh,” Sam laughed at a slight loss of words before he continued, “Some friends and I were invited to a private party at a place called _Thor_. I’m sure I could get you in as my plus one.”

Tony laughed derisively, “Ah, of course, that’s my brother’s party. I don’t think that will be a problem at all.”

Wait, what? Sam was at a loss for words again, suddenly realizing how little he still knew about this man. “Your brother? But I thought your father was in the Army?”

Tony nodded. “He is. Thor is my half brother, we have the same mother,” he clarified.

“Oh, sorry,” Sam offered, feeling a little embarrassed now.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t speak about it much since I don’t see him very often,” Tony said, “and I’d most definitely be happy to go as your plus one, if only just to ruffle a few of my brother’s feathers.”

Sam laughed and wondered what Thor was like now. “James will probably be there too,” Sam warned as an afterthought while Tony hailed him a taxi.

“It’s fine,” Tony said as a cab pulled to the curb, “I can be civil for a night. If he wants to avoid seeing me he’ll have to be the one to leave.”

 

 


End file.
